Ashlee’s parents, Tina & Joe Simpson had always had high hopes for their first daughter, Jessica. Encouraging, pushing and challenging her to try her hardest, train her voice and never give up. Mr Simpson especially pushed Jess due to the fact he had the plans to be her manager. Jessica was put forward for many, many auditions and meetings with well respected people in the music industry. All the while, Ashlee, this beautiful and talented little girl, was pushed aside with her dreams never given a second thought.

Joe was successful in creating his oldest daughter into a pretty, powerful but most importantly, manufactured pop diva. Jessica has enjoyed many years of success including a number of well-selling albums & singles, not to mention her hugely popular MTV series “Newlyweds”.

Now that the Simpson family (daughter and dad/manager that is) were well-known and successful business tycoons, Ashlee saw this and took it as her chance to make her dreams a reality. After having small roles in such programs as ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ and ‘Saved By The Bell’, not to mention her small appearance in major motion picture ‘The Hot Chick’ and a supporting role in popular teen series ‘7th Heaven’, She decided to step out of the shadow and try her chances with her first love, Music.

At the age of 19, Ashlee recorded and released her debut album with Geffen Records entitled “Autobiography”, an edgy and guitar driven rock album – much different from her sister’s bugglegum-pop efforts. The first single “Pieces Of Me” was an amazingly popular track world-wide and helped towards the album shooting straight in at #1 selling more than 398,000 copies in the US alone.

Everything was going so great for Ashlee until she was diagnosed with having Acid Reflux, a vocal chord infection, during the time in which she was scheduled to perform live as part of the promotion for her CD. To Ashlee’s surprise and delight, she was invited to perform on the hugely successful ‘Saturday Night Live’, a show in which usually only legendary artists who have had years of recognizable success are invited. Unable to turn down the offer, Ashlee was ordered to try her best to perform with the help of her studio recording being played loudly over her actual voice, in order to not put too much strain or force upon her vocal cords due the condition she had just recently been informed of having. Tragedy strikes, the wrong studio performance was played over the speakers and unaware this was about to happen, Ashlee was not seen to be actually singing. The show suddenly came to a sudden stop and quickly cut to an unplanned commercial break. Almost hours after the incident, the press had a field day branding Ashlee “A Fake” and oh-so-popular “lip-syncher”.

The fans sat and waited to see how (if ever) she would make a come-back and redeem herself along with her vocal abilities. No one was actually sure if this was the end for Ashlee’s music, and the anticipation for her second release was unbearable. Almost exactly a year after the SNL incident, Ashlee is back better than ever with her absolutely incredibly new CD entitled “I Am Me”.

"Put this under your skin, I am me, and i won't change for anyone" sings Ashlee in the album's title track. One thing that you notice almost straight away when playing the record, is that she refuses to re-invent herself and her music to try and give the public something new to see her for. She has kept the whole "punk-rock" sound to her music and lyrically insists that she will not change herself to please a single person but her self. Take her as she is or don't take her at all.

Songs that stand out on the record are "Beautifully Broken" and "Catch Me When I Fall", both written by Ashlee about SNL and the struggle to remain strong and confident within herself. "I am beautifully broken, and i don't don't care if you know it..." a line which sums up the depth in which the experience effected her "Who will be the one to save me from myself? ...... Who will catch me when i fall?" she almost cries, describing how only herself, and no one else, can give her the strength to be strong and deal with life's problems as they come at you. I can't help but laugh as i notice how it seems almost ironic that her first album was titled "Autobiography" when in-fact "I Am Me" seems more of an in-depth description of her mind, heart and soul.

After a miserable childhood of living in the shadow of her sister and the almost career destroying SNL situation, Ashlee finally seems to be in a healthy and stable place. Fans will be pleased to know that her music career seems not to have been affected at all in a negative way. “I Am Me” sold over 220,000 copies it’s first week, giving Ashlee her second #1 album. She’s beautiful, she’s talented and she’s real. Something tells me Ashlee Simpson will be rocking the charts for years to come.

Read Jason's review of 'I am me'