Jessica Ann Simpson

Jessica Ann Simpson (born July 10, 1980) is an American pop singer and actress who rose to fame in the late 1990s. She has achieved seven Billboard Top 40 hits, and has three gold and two multi-platinum RIAA-certified albums. Simpson starred with her then-husband Nick Lachey in the MTV reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. She has also begun working as an actress, and is the older sister of Ashlee Simpson, a pop rock singer.

1999 saw the arrival of pop princesses Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera, who each received multi-platinum certificates. Simpson's label hoped for the same with her. As 1999 came to a close, Simpson released her first single, "I Wanna Love You Forever," which peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Soon afterward her album Sweet Kisses was released. Simpson toured with boy band 98 Degrees to promote her new album. She was given a role in the music video for 98 Degrees' hit song "My Everything," playing Nick Lachey's love interest. At that time she and Lachey began dating. After dating for two years the couple cooled their relationship, stating that the "break" allowed them to concentrate on their music careers. Then on September 11, 2001, Lachey was supposed to be flying out of New York City with his group 98 Degrees. When Simpson heard of the attacks on the nation coming from the airport she immediately phoned Lachey to learn his whereabouts. After this scare the couple rekindled the relationship.

Meanwhile, Simpson's album Sweet Kisses had gone double platinum thanks to the success of her follow-up singles "Where You Are", 1999, and "I Think I'm In Love With You, 2001." The latter became Simpson's biggest radio hit at that point and was her first release of an uptempo single. But although her debut album sold 2 million copies, sales fell far short of those achieved by Spears and Aguilera, and unlike the two pop princesses, Simpson was not a worldwide household name. Columbia Records officials reportedly decided Simpson needed a change for her second album.

In 2001, Simpson recorded a follow-up album with what Columbia considered more radio-friendly, up-tempo tracks; the studio also encouraged her to lose weight in order to fit in with her competitors. The result in that was Irresistible, released in mid-2001 on the heels of the title-track first single. The new sound and image helped make "Irresistible" one of the biggest hits of her career; it peaked at # 15 on the Hot 100. "Irresistible" debuted at # 6 in June 2001 on the Billboard 200 Album Chart, and has sold 825,000 copies to date.