Jessica Ann Simpson was born July 10, 1980 and is an American pop music singer who rose to fame during the late 1990s. In the following decade, Jessica Simpson starred with her then-husband Nick Lachey in the MTV reality show Newlyweds, released her own line of beauty products and started a career as an actress whilst continuing her music career.


Jessica Simpson Early life and beginning
Jessica Simpson was born in Abilene, Texas and raised in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. Jessica Simpson is the daughter of Joe Truett Simpson (a former Baptist youth minister) and Tina Ann Drew (a former Sunday School teacher). Jessica Simpson has a younger sister, Ashlee Simpson, who launched her own music career in mid-2004. Jessica Simpson started singing at the age of twelve as a part of her Baptist church choir. At the same age, she made an unsuccessful application for The New Mickey Mouse Club, which starred fellow pop singers Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, among other future stars.


Jessica Simpson attended J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson, Texas. Jessica Simpson was discovered singing at a church camp by a head of a small contemporary Christian record label and recorded an album over the next three years; however, the label folded before the record could be released. Jessica Simpson dropped out in her senior year in order to tour and promote her demo album, which was funded by her grandmother, Joyce (thus the reason for the name of her 2004 holiday album, ReJoyce: The Christmas Album); she later earned her GED. During this time, she toured with the Christian Youth Conference circuit performing with Kirk Franklin, God's Property and CeCe Winans. Jessica Simpson and her father sold copies of the album after her performances.


Tommy Mottola of Columbia Records obtained a copy of the album and, thinking she had potential as a pop singer, signed her as such. Christian influences can still be found in much of her music.