This year has seen the emergence of another very talented member of the Simpson family onto the Billboard charts, but she is certainly not a carbon-copy of her well-known, sometimes ditzy, and boldly blond older sibling, Jessica.Not only has the younger and bolder Ashlee Simpson showcased her vocal talents on her debut album, “Autobiography,” she has also let Mtv broadcast her life every week on “The Ashlee Simpson Show.” It seems like Ashlee could easily have used her sisterʼs golden-girl image to her advantage in gaining fame, but this is exactly what Ashley is rebelling against with her dark brown jagged hairstyle and her even edgier lyrics.
Born on Oct. 3, 1984, Ashlee began dancing at the age of four. At the tender age of 11, she was the youngest person ever admitted into the prestigious School of American Ballet. After that she began dancing professionally on her sisterʼs national tour, and by the age of 14 she was living in L.A. with Jessica and her parents.
Even though Ashlee says that she was always interested in music, acting was what kept her busy through most of her early and middle teen years. She had appearances on “Malcolm in the Middle,” “The View,” and eventually a steady role as Cecilia on “Seventh Heaven.” After landing the track, “Just Let Me Cry” on Disneyʼs “Freaky Friday” soundtrack, she began recording her debut album.
Her debut, “Autobiography,” is a mixture of punk, rock and pop. To Mtv, Ashlee comments, “Itʼs a rock record, with a cool edge to it.” Ashlee co-wrote every song on the album and cites Pat Benatar, Stevie Nicks, Deborah Harry and Chrissie Hynde as a few of her musical influences. These are women who are a lot tougher then Celine Dion and Mariah Carey, the pop influences of her sister Jessica. With her father, Joe Simpson, as her manager, Ashlee landed on top of the Billboard charts in late August with the release of her first LP. The first single, “Pieces of Me” got an extremely large amount of airplay on both radio and MTVʼs “Total Request Live.” This song was written about Ashleeʼs thenboyfriend, fellow singer, Ryan Cabrera. It focused on the intense friendship and comfort one can find in a steady relationship and how soothing that comfort can be at the end of a tough day. Even though her relationship with Ryan eventually ended, “Pieces of Me” can still be heard on heavy rotation at radio stations around the country.
At the same time that she was scoring a record deal and recording her debut, Ashlee was being followed by a camera crew that was intent on capturing every moment of her climb to fame. Her reality show on MTV, “The Ashlee Simpson Show,” aired directly after her sisterʼs reality hit with husband Nick Lachey, “Newlyweds.”
Eventually the show became so popular that it landed on top of cable ratings nationwide. This show gave Ashleeʼs growing fan base a prime opportunity to follow the young songstress through every moment of her rise to fame, even when those moments were filled with emotions or tears, such as when she called it quits with her former boyfriend.
Ashlee could not have asked for a better promotional tool for both her album and her career. It seems like Ashlee is ready for anything at the moment. Her album went triple platinum, easily outselling her sisterʼs recent LP, “In This Skin.” Her current single, “Shadow” is doing well on
TRL because fans easily respond to the message it sends about trying to live up to the accomplishments of a sibling. Sibling rivalry is certainly not too intense though as Jess and Ashlee have recentlystarred together in commercials for Pizza Hut and Ice Breakers Liquid Ice breath mints. Even
Jessica acknowledges that Ashlee is certainly no knockoff. Jess told VH1, “I always say Ashleeʼs not following in my footsteps. Sheʼs making footsteps of her own because sheʼs not becoming me by any means.