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Someone in the Simpson musical family must be smart...right?

Published Thursday, July 29, 2004 by seanlmccarthy | E-mail this post

Who's your daddy?
Joe Simpson, the father/manager Ashlee and Jessica Simpson, clearly has figured out how to market his singing daughters to full effect, as Ashlee debuts this week atop the Billboard charts by selling about 400,000 copies of her CD, Autobiography. But how many CDs would she have sold without having her life sold first to MTV? The cable juggernaut of the record industry not only broadcasts The Ashlee Simpson Show seemingly nonstop (two hours of back-to-back episodes of it plus Jessica's Newlyweds show air today), but through its "news" and other programming, MTV also constantly hypes the Simpson sisters newest products. The musical careers of Jessica and hubby Nick Lachey already were well-past-D-O-N-E done done done before they signed on with MTV. Ashlee has MTV to thank as well for getting her disc reviewed by so many media outlets and sold to so many unsuspecting fans of the TV shows. And for all of that, both Ashlee and Jessica should thank papa Joe every day.

Related story: USATODAY.com - Ashlee Simpson shows big sister how it's really done