Ashlee Simpson-Wentz (born Ashley Nicole Simpson ; October 3, 1984) is an American pop singer-songwriter, dancer and actress. Simpson-Wentz, who is the younger sister of pop singer Jessica Simpson, rose to prominence in mid-2004 through the success of her number-one debut album Autobiography and the accompanying reality series The Ashlee Simpson Show . Simpson received widespread criticism when she used a pre-recorded vocal track on Saturday Night Live in October 2004. Following a North American concert tour and a film appearance, Simpson released a second number-one album, I Am Me , in October 2005. Her third album, Bittersweet World , was released in April 2008. The following month, she married musician Pete Wentz and announced that they were expecting a child. On November 20, 2008, Simpson-Wentz gave birth to their son, Bronx Mowgli Wentz. Her first three albums have sold over 8 million copies worldwide.
Early life
Ashlee was born in Waco, Texas, and raised in Richardson, Texas. She is the second daughter of Joe Truett Simpson (a former Baptist youth minister who is now her manager) and Tina Ann Drew.
Ashlee attended Prairie Creek Elementary. An accomplished dancer, Simpson began studying classical ballet at the age of three, and was admitted to the School of American Ballet in New York City at the age of eleven. Around that time, she suffered from an eating disorder; the condition lasted about six months, but her parents then stepped in and got her to eat more. After her sister Jessica Simpson landed a record deal, the Simpson family decided to move to Los Angeles, California, where Ashlee began appearing in television commercials.
Career
Early years
When Jessica became a star after releasing her first album, Ashlee became one of her backup dancers. Later, Ashlee began appearing in films and television series, including an episode of the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle in 2001, a minor role in the 2002 film The Hot Chick and a recurring role, 39 episodes from 2002-2004, on the family drama series 7th Heaven .
Ashlee recorded a song called "Christmas Past, Present and Future" in 2002 for the holiday album School's Out! Christmas , later to be re-released on Radio Disney Jingle Jams in 2004 and 2005. In the summer of 2003 she released a song titled "Just Let Me Cry" for the soundtrack of the film Freaky Friday . Eventually, Simpson signed a record deal with Geffen Records.
Debut album and reality television (2004)
See also: Autobiography (Ashlee Simpson album)Simpson-Wentz occasionally appeared on Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, a reality show about the married life of Jessica and her then-husband Nick Lachey. To accompany and build interest in the beginning of her own music career, Simpson-Wentz filmed and appeared on her reality television series, The Ashlee Simpson Show, which aired in a subsequent time slot to Newlyweds and whose theme was the title song from her debut album, Autobiography. It ran in the U.S. for eight weekly episodes over the summer of 2004 (a second season of ten episodes aired from January to March 2005). The show dealt with the process of writing, recording, and performing Simpson-Wentz's music as well as aspects of her personal life.
Simpson-Wentz's first album, Autobiography, debuted at number one in the U.S. in July 2004 with first week sales numbering around 398,000 copies. The album was certified triple platinum in September 2004. Simpson co-wrote all of the album's tracks and described it as "very true to my emotions" in one interview, but critical reviews were mixed. Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Relic characterised Autobiography as a "mundane melange of Avril-ish brat pop and Sheryl Crow cod rock." E! Online wrote "Even if it doesn't wow you, Autobiography may surprise you." The single that preceded the album, "Pieces of Me," was one of the biggest hits of the summer in the U.S. and sold well elsewhere. However, the follow-up singles, "Shadow" and "La La," were less successful.
When appearing for live performances, Simpson performs live with a backing band. During the period from 2004 to 2006, the band consisted of Ray Brady (guitar), Braxton Olita (guitar), Joey Kaimana (bass guitar—from 2004 to 2005 Zach Kennedy filled this role), Chris Megert (keyboards and vocals—from late 2004 to 2005 Lucy Walsh filled this role), and Chris Fox (drums).
In addition to her own first album, Simpson sang a duet of the Christmas song "Little Drummer Boy" with her sister Jessica for the album Rejoyce, which they had sung together during the ABC variety hour special Nick & Jessica's Family Christmas.
At the Teen Choice Awards on August 8, 2004, Simpson received the "Song of the Summer" Teen Choice Award for "Pieces of Me," as well as the "Fresh Face" award. In addition, she won a Billboard Award for New Female Artist of the Year in December, and in the same month, Entertainment Weekly Magazine named her one of its Breakout Stars of 2004. Simpson also co-hosted Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve along with Regis Philbin (in Dick Clark's absence) at the end of the year, hosting the West Coast portion of the show and performing three songs.
Saturday Night Live incident
Simpson appeared as a musical guest on Episode 568 of Saturday Night Live (October 23–24, 2004), and, as is customary for the show's format, she was scheduled to perform two songs. Her first song, "Pieces of Me," was performed without problems. However, when she began her second song, "Autobiography," the vocals for the song "Pieces of Me" were heard again—before she had even raised the microphone to her mouth. Simpson began to do an impromptu jig when she realized the embarrassing error, but then left the stage. The band, realizing the error, goofed around on their guitars and traded wicked smiles in mockery of the fact that the instrumentation was also tracked. During the closing of the show Simpson appeared with the guest host Jude Law and said, "I'm so sorry. My band started playing the wrong song, and I didn't know what to do, so I thought I'd do a hoedown."
On October 25, Simpson called in to the music video show Total Request Live and explained that due to complications arising from "severe" acid reflux disease, which had previously been seen bothering her in The Ashlee Simpson Show, she had completely lost her voice and her doctor had advised her not to sing. She said that because of the acid reflux, her father wanted her to use a vocal guide track for the performance. She said of the incident, "I made a complete fool of myself." According to Simpson, the drummer hit the wrong button, which caused the wrong track to be played. During the October 25 Radio Music Awards broadcast, Simpson pretended, as a joke, to make the same mistake as she did in the SNL incident, but then began to perform "Autobiography" without using a pre-recorded vocal track as she had done during the prior SNL performance. On October 31, the CBS news program 60 Minutes aired footage from Simpson's rehearsals before the SNL performance in which Simpson is shown to be disturbed by poor voice control.
The incident was spoofed on MADtv and in the Family Guy episode "Brian Goes Back to College". Simpson is about to start miming a song when the song changes to "Ol' Man River".
Jeannette Walls compared the impact of the SNL incident to the 1990 Milli Vanilli incident in which their guide track skipped during a live MTV performance, revealing that they were lip-synching.
The New York Times said the much-viewed clip of Simpson's SNL appearance "may just be this year's best music video," but dismissed its significance: "one of 2004's most popular new stars had been exposed as ... As what, exactly?"
Simpson returned to Saturday Night Live the following year to perform the single "Boyfriend" and a new song "Catch Me When I Fall" from her album I Am Me . Both songs were performed without incident.
Orange Bowl performance and first tour (early 2005)
On January 4, 2005, Simpson performed "La La" at the halftime show for the 2005 Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida; after her performance, many of the 72,000-plus spectators booed. Some people noted that Kelly Clarkson had performed before Simpson in the show to a much more positive reaction, and assert that Simpson's performance was poor and very off-key. Following her Orange Bowl performance, an Internet petition at PetitionOnline.com asking Simpson to stop producing music became one of the most active of the site's petitions. Simpson later said: "That's cool. You don't always have to be a fan of everybody's music." She also cited the support she had received from her fans. Around the time of the petition, Cosmopolitan magazine chose Simpson to be on the cover of the February 2005 issue, naming her the "Fun Fearless Female of the Year."
Simpson's first U.S. headlining tour (with two dates in Canada as well) ran from mid-February to late April 2005, and its opening acts were Pepper's Ghost and The Click Five. In a
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