Ashlee Simpson (born October 3, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter who rose to prominence in 2004 with the success of her number-one debut album Autobiography and is best known for appearing on her MTV reality series The Ashlee Simpson Show from 2004 to 2005. She appeared on Saturday Night Live as a musical guest on October 23, 2004 where she performed "Pieces of Me" and was originally going to perform another song (see controversy below) and on October 8, 2005 where she performed "Catch Me When I Fall" and "Boyfriend."
Controversy[]
On the October 23, 2004 episode, her first performance, "Pieces of Me," was performed without incident, but when she began her second song, "Autobiography," the vocals for "Pieces of Me" were heard again—before she had even raised the microphone to her mouth. Simpson began to do an impromptu jig, and then left the stage. During the closing of the show, Simpson appeared with the guest host Jude Law and said: "I'm so sorry. My band started playing the wrong song, and I didn't know what to do, so I thought I'd do a hoedown."
On October 25, Simpson called in to the music video show Total Request Live and explained that due to complications arising from severe acid reflux disease, which had previously been seen bothering her in The Ashlee Simpson Show, she had completely lost her voice and her doctor had advised her not to sing. She said that because of the acid reflux, her father wanted her to use a vocal guide track for the performance after Simpson had suffered vocal issues during an earlier rehearsal. Simpson stated of the incident, "I made a complete fool of myself." According to Simpson, the drummer hit the wrong button, which caused the wrong track to be played. Lorne Michaels had been unaware of the plan to use lip synching, saying in an interview with 60 Minutes that he would not have allowed it.
Simpson is also the only musical guest to ever walk off stage during a live performance.