Birth Name: Jessica Ann Simpson Born July 10, 1980 Origin Abilene, Texas, United States Genre(s) Pop Years active 1996–present Also Known As: Jess Height: 5' 3½" (1.61 m) Spouse Nick Lachey (26 October 2002 - 30 June 2006) (divorced) Trade mark Blonde Hair   Jessica Ann Simpson (born July 10, 1980) is an American pop singer who rose to fame during the late 1990s.

In the following ten years she starred with her then-husband Nick Lachey in the MTV reality show Newlyweds, released her own line of Dessert Beauty and Dessert Treat beauty products and started a career as an actress, while continuing her music career. Her younger sister Ashlee Simpson is also a famous singer.

Simpson and was born in Abilene, Texas and raised in Richardson, a suburb of Dallas, Texas. She is the daughter of Joe Simpson (a former Baptist youth minister) and Tina Ann Drew (a former Sunday School teacher). Her younger sister Ashlee launched her own music career in mid-2004. Simpson started singing at the age of 12 in 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.

Simpson attended J.J. Pearce High School in Richardson, Texas. She 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. She 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. She 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.

In late 1999, Simpson released her debut album Sweet Kisses, which reached a peak of number 25 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and also made the top 40 of the UK charts. The album proved to be a success, selling two and a half million copies in the U.S. Her first single, the platinum-selling "I Wanna Love You Forever," reached the top five of the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and the top ten in Canada and the UK. Her second single, a duet with then-boyfriend Nick Lachey of boy band 98 Degrees, "Where You Are", was a modest radio hit. The last single from the album, "I Think I'm in Love with You" (sampling John Mellencamp's 1982 hit "Jack And Diane"), was a top forty hit in the U.S. and a top 20 hit in Canada and the UK. In 2000, Simpson won two Teen Choice Awards for Choice Breakout Artist and Love Song of the Year ("Where You Are"). In 2000, Simpson appeared on the 98 Degrees video My Everything.

Released during the summer of 2001, Simpson's sophomore effort Irresistible reached the top ten of the Billboard 200 and top 20 of the Canadian album chart.

On October 26, 2002, Simpson married Nick Lachey. She famously announced that she remained a virgin until her wedding night. On Friday, June 30, 2006, Jessica and Nick's divorce was finalized. Jessica's name was legally restored to "Jessica Simpson" from her marital name of "Jessica Simpson-Lachey", and Simpson asked to destroy all remicesnts of her former marriage, such as people burning DVD's of their old TV show.