Personal Life

Ashlee Simpson Wentz (born October 3, 1984 as Ashlee Nicole Simpson), now professionally known as Ashlee Simpson-Wentz, is an American pop rock singer-songwriter, and occasional 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 début 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 fellow 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

Simpson was born in Waco, Texas, and raised in Richardson, Texas. She is the 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, and she dropped to about 31 kg (70 pounds) at 159 cm (5 ft 2 in), 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.

Here is a resume of the most remarkable moments in Ashlee’s carrer during all those years (2003-2009):

Career Timeline

2003 & Earlier

Ashlee became as one of her sister Jessica’s backup dancer. Later Ashlee start appearing in 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.

2004

To accompany and build interest in the beginning of her own music career, Simpson-Wentz got her own MTV reality show entitled The Ashlee Simpson Show, 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.

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 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 dance, but then left the stage while the band (not a recording) continued playing. 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 ho-down.”Based on professional music producers who were asked about their opinions of the incident, they state that Simpson’s band actually did a respectable job trying to cover up the mistake, and also state that Simpson blaming her band in the end of the show was not a wise decision.

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 unspecified people have noted that Kelly Clarkson had performed before Simpson in the show to a much more positive reaction, and assert that Simpson-Wentz’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.

Simpson’s first U.S. headlining tour, “Autobiography 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 addition to material from Autobiography, Simpson performed her own unreleased song “Hollywood,” The Pretenders’ “Brass in Pocket,” Blondie’s “Call Me,” and Madonna’s “Burning Up.” She said that the tour would be “stripped down,” without pyrotechnics, and that “it’s gonna be me and my band getting out there and having fun.” In March 2005, Simpson said that The Ashlee Simpson Show would conclude at the end of its second season, the last episode of which aired at the end of the month. Simpson had a supporting role as an aspiring actress named Clea in Undiscovered, originally titled Wannabe, an independent film that was released in theaters in August 2005. Simpson filmed her scenes in late 2004. Simpson-Wentz’s second album,
I Am Me, was released in the U.S. on October 18, 2005. Simpson said that she had wanted to incorporate the feel of music from the 1980s on the album, and that unlike her debut, it would focus less on relationships and more on herself. I Am Me debuted at number one with roughly 220,000 copies sold.

Simpson began a concert tour “I Am Me Tour” in late September in Portland, Oregon and appeared on the October 8, 2005 episode of SNL to promote the album. The first of Simpson’s two performances on the show was of the ballad “Catch Me When I Fall,” which was written about her previous SNL experience.

2006

On April 12, 2006 she hosted and performed at the MTV Australia Video Music Awards, where she won “Best Female Artist” and “Best Pop Video” (for “Boyfriend”). A new single, “Invisible” was released in mid-2006 and reached the top 25 on the Billboard Hot 100. Initially it was said that the song would appear on a re-released version of I Am Me, but this never occurred. Simpson began a summer tour “L.O.V.E. Tour” on June 5, 2006 with Ashley Parker Angel as an opening act; initially The Veronicas also opened but quit the tour after the first few shows due to a problem with one of their singers’ vocal cords.

Simpson reportedly had a nose job in April 2006. When asked about it in an interview in May, Simpson neither confirmed nor denied it

2007

During 2007, Simpson worked on the album, which was eventually given the title Bittersweet World, with producers Timbaland, Kenna, and Chad Hugo. She said that it would have a more “soulful” sound and more emphasis on beats than guitars.

The Bittersweet World album first single, the Timbaland-produced “Outta My Head (Ay Ya Ya)”, was released as a digital download in December 2007

2008

Bittersweet World was released in the U.S. on April 22, 2008. Reviews for the album were characterized as mixed. A collection of tops designed by Simpson was launched by the clothing retailer Wet Seal on April 22, in connection with the album’s release.

Simpson began appearing in commercials for Canadian retailer Zellers to promote their independent clothing line, Request, in mid-2008.

Promotion for Bittersweet World ended quicker than most of her albums due to Ashlee being pregnant. So far it has been her lowest selling album yet.

2009

Simpson-Wentz is scheduled for a television return in the acting role of Violet Foster in the Untitled Melrose Place Spinoff, the CW’s revamp of the ’90s series Melrose Place.