July 10: Jessica Simpson is 33-years-old today.

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Jessica Ann Simpson was born in Abilene, Texas. Simpson began singing at a local Baptist church, where her father also worked as the congregation's youth minister. At age twelve, she unsuccessfully auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club.

The following year, Simpson attended a church camp, where she met the founder of Proclaim Records, a minor Gospel music record label. She recorded an album, Jessica, but the label went bankrupt.

When Simpson was sixteen years old, Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola heard Jessica, and he signed her to the label. She dropped out of J. J. Pearce High School but later earned her GED. Simpson first rose to fame with the release of her debut single, "I Wanna Love You Forever,” which peaked inside the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100. It is her first and only single to reach the Top 10 of the Hot 100. "I Wanna Love You Forever" went on to be certified Platinum by the RIAA less than three months after its release.

Subsequently, her debut album Sweet Kisses went on to be certified 2x Platinum in the United States, and sold over four million copies worldwide. Her 2001 single "Irresistible" became her second Top 20 hit, while the album of the same name became her first to enter the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, and went on to receive a Gold certification from the RIAA.

Her third studio album, In This Skin, went on to become her best selling album worldwide, receiving a 4x Platinum certification from the RIAA and peaking at number 2 on the Billboard 200, her highest charting album to date. Following the release of a Christmas album, Simpson released A Public Affair in 2006, and the album became her third Top 10 hit on the Billboard 200.

She ventured into the country music market in 2008 and released Do You Know. In October 2010 she released her first compilation album and last album under the label of Epic Records, with the name Playlist: The Very Best of Jessica Simpson. A month later she released her second Christmas album Happy Christmas under the label Primary Wave Records, owned by EMI. S

he has achieved seven Billboard Top 40 hits, three gold and two multi-platinum Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) certified studio albums, four of which have reached the top 10 on the US Billboard 200. She has sold 30 million albums worldwide.

In 2003, Simpson starred with her then-husband Nick Lachey in the MTV reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. The show aired from 2003 to 2005, During the first part of 2010, Simpson appeared in her second reality show on VH1 The Price of Beauty. The Price of Beauty gained a generally positive reception, pulling in 1 million viewers on its premiere. The show was also nominated for a Teen Choice Award. She also recorded the show's theme song, "Who We Are.”

Simpson has also ventured into acting, and has appeared in films including "Employee of the Month" and the 2008 film "Private Valentine: Blonde & Dangerous.” She has also portrayed Daisy Duke in the 2005 film adaption of The Dukes of Hazzard.

On May 1, 2012, Simpson gave birth to her first child, a daughter named Maxwell Drew Johnson.

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For more about Jessica, visit her Website at -
http://www.jessicasimpson.com/

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