Cody Simpson

Early life

Simpson was born on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, to Brad and Angie Simpson. He has two younger siblings, Tom and Alli. Simpson has won two gold medals at the Queensland Swimming Championships. Simpson trained at the Miami Swimming Club under coach Ken Nixon. Simpson's mother Angie worked as a volunteer at the club.

Simpson began to record songs in his bedroom during the summer of 2009 on YouTube, performing "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, "Cry Me a River" and "Señorita" by Justin Timberlake, "I Want You Back" by The Jackson 5, and his own songs, "One" and "Perfect". He was subsequently discovered on YouTube by Shawn Campbell.

2009–11: Career beginnings, 4 U, and Coast to Coast

Simpson's rise to recognition was featured on The 7.30 Report in December 2009. He released his debut single, "iYiYi" (which features American rapper Flo Rida), on 15 May 2010. The music video for Simpson's second single, "Summertime", was released on 20 September 2010. Simpson relocated to Los Angeles in June 2010 with his family to record his songs with Atlantic Records Shawn Campbell. That same month, Simpson appeared on Sunrise. On 22 June 2010, it was announced that Simpson would participate in the Camplified 2010 Tour, along with other artists, touring across the United States. The tour began on 5 July 2010 and ended on 14 August 2010. Other tours that year included a middle school tour that took place from October–November 2010 and covered 9 U.S states. An EP, 4 U was released on 21 December 2010. The EP included five tracks in total, four of them being previously unreleased. Simpson recorded a remake of the song "I Want Candy" by The Strangeloves as the main theme song for the Easter-themed live-action/CGI-animated film Hop. In May 2011, Simpson was "egged" during a live performance at Westfield Miranda in Sydney. Simpson told Australian radio show The Kyle & Jackie O Show that he was not in fact hit by the eggs, and that he was upset on behalf of his fans because the remainder of his show was cancelled because of security concerns. He then started the Waiting 4U tour with American singer Greyson Chance on April 9 in Ivins, Utah. The tour ended on May 18, 2011, in Portland, Oregon.

Coast to Coast was released on 20 September 2011 by Alantic Records. It reached number 12 on Billboard 200 selling 24,000 copies. On 23 April 2011, Simpson released the single "On My Mind". On August 5, 2011, he performed on The Today Show. The following day, Simpson started his Coast to Coast Mall Tour in Lake Grove, New York to promote his second EP. He played nine dates around the United States and finished it in Orange, California on 18 September 2011. On 22 September, it was announced that Cody Simpson hired Justin Bieber's manager, Scooter Braun, as his own. In December 2011, The Wish Factory released a Cody Simpson doll in two formats.

2012–14: Paradise, Surfers Paradise and Dancing with the Stars

On 12 June 2012, Simpson released an EP titled Preview to Paradise containing four songs from his upcoming debut studio album, Paradise, which was released on 2 October 2012. In February 2013, Simpson toured Europe, doing his own tour dates as well as supporting Justin Bieber on many of the European Believe tour dates. Surfers Paradise, which was released on 16 July 2013, is Simpson's first album to debut in the top 10 of the Billboard 200. During summer of 2013, Simpson headlined the Paradise Tour, featuring opening acts Ryan Beatty and Before You Exit. On 19 November 2013, Simpson released an acoustic album called The Acoustic Sessions, featuring the songs "Pretty Brown Eyes", "All Day", "La Da Dee", "Wish U Were Here", and a cover of "Please Come Home for Christmas" recorded acoustically.

On 4 March 2014, Simpson was announced as one of the celebrities to participate on the 18th season of Dancing with the Stars during ABC's Good Morning America. He was partnered with professional dancer Witney Carson. He was eliminated on Week 5 of the competition and finished in 9th place.

From 30 June 2014 to 14 July 2014 Simpson did an acoustic tour through Europe with singer Jackson Harris.

In August 2014 Simpson announced he had departed Warner/Atlantic. He cited creative differences as the reason for his departure and as a result is currently unsigned.

2015–present: Free and Coast House Band

In 2015 Cody's album Free was scheduled to be released on June 23, 2015 then was pushed back to July 10. Simpson performed the first single, "Flower" on Good Morning America on 6 February 2015. It is his first album as an independent artist since leaving Atlantic Records to create his own label, Coast House. He will release five songs in the next couple of months. The album was produced by Cisco Adler and includes songwriting collaborations with G. Love and Donavon Frankenreiter. John Mayer served as a sounding board. Cody performed his single "New Problems" on NBC's Today show on July 13, 2015. On November 1, 2015 it has been reported that Cody took a break from his long term solo career to start up a new band "Coast House Records" with his close mates Corey Harper, Adrian Cota and Khari Mateen.

Acting

In 2015, Simpson guest starred on the American television sitcom Cougar Town, portraying Pete, a high school student. In the same year he booked a role in Nickelodeon's film "One Crazy Cruise" where he played the love interest of Kira Kosarin's character Ellie Jensen-Bauer and starred as himself.

In late 2016, he signed on to play a lead role of Ivan Konig in a sports movie called "North Shore Wave Warrior" which is a remake of North Shore (film). Filming is set to start in Hawaii in 2017. He was also cast in the supporting role in Bret Easton Ellis thriller film, Smiley Faced Killers.

Discography

Tours

Headlining

Co-headlining

Promotional

Opening act