Hilary Erhard Duff was born 0n 28 September 1987 in Houston, Texas, and encouraged by their mother, both Hilary and her sister Haylie enrolled in acting, singing and ballet classes. The siblings earned roles in local theatre productions, and later participated in a touring BalletMet production of The Nutcracker in San Antonio. Increasingly interested in the pursuit of show business, the Duff sisters and their mother moved to California in 1993, while their father stayed in Houston to take care of his business. The sisters auditioned for several years, being cast in many television commercials, and during her initial acting years Hialry primarily played minor roles, with her first major role being Wendy in the 1998 film 'Casper Meets Wendy', based on the Harvey Comics characters. In March 2000 she appeared as a sick child in the CBS medical drama series 'Chicago Hope', and was next cast as one of the children in the pilot episode of the NBC comedy series 'Daddio', but was dropped from the cast prior to the airing of the show. A week after being dropped from 'Daddio,' Duff landed the title role in a newly developed Disney Channel series, 'Lizzie McGuire', quickly becoming labelled as a teen idol and household name, particularly within the show's pre-teen adolescent target demographic. She began making appearances on various soundtracks for the Disney channel, recording covers of the Brooke McClymont song 'I Can't Wait' for the soundtrack to 'Lizzie McGuire', and 'The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room' for DisneyMania.
Upon expressing interest in a music career, production on Duff's debut Christmas themed album began, and 'Santa Claus Lane' was released in October 2002, peaking in the lower portion of the Billboard 200 chart in the United States, and she later signed a recording contract with Andre Recke of Hollywood Records to release future recordings. Following the release of her Australian top twenty hit 'Why Not', she released her second studio album, 'Metamorphosis', in August 2003, receiving mixed reviews from contemporary music critics, but still topping the Billboard 200 chart in the United States. 'Metamorphosis' earned multiple awards and nominations following its release, including Best New Female Artist at the 2004 World Music Awards. Her self-titled third studio album was released in September of that year, with Duff being more involved in the production of this album than she had been in her previous record, and it featured prominent rock elements, and drew comparison to works from Avril Lavigne and Ashlee Simpson. In 2007 she began working on material for her fourth studio album, co-writing thirteen of the album's fourteen songs, along with writers such as Kara DioGuardi, and 'Dignity' was released in 2007, featuring a more dance and electropop sound. The album was praised for its lyrical content and new musical direction, and was promoted with a television special 'Hilary Duff: This Is Now', chronicling her return to music. Despite positive critical reception, however, 'Dignity' failed to match the commercial success of her previous releases, and so she concentrated of acting for the next couple of years, appearing in 'War, Inc.' in 2008 and starring in 'According To Greta' and 'What Goes Up', both in 2009, before landing the role of Olivia Burke in the TV show 'Gossip Girl' in 2010.
Following this appearance, she guested in an episode of the NBC sitcom 'Community', and then co-starred as Raven Halfacre in the drama 'Bloodworth'. By 2012 she was ready to return to her music career, and throughout 2012 she worked with songwriter Ali Tamposi, and musicians Matt Squire and Jason Evigan, but nothing was ever released from these sessions. In July 2014 it was revealed that Duff had signed with RCA Records, and 'Chasing The Sun' was immediately released as her first single for the label, followed by 'All About You' a month later, which failed to enter the Hot 100 chart, but became a top-twenty hit in Australia. In April 2015 she released the single 'Sparks' from her fifth studio album 'Breathe In. Breathe Out.', which was issued in June 2015, but what became of the record which was supposed to follow the 'Chasing The Sun' and 'All About You' singles in 2014? 'This Heart' was the album that Duff wanted as her music comeback in 2014, but it was cancelled by RCA, possibly because of the direction that Duff wanted to go, having been inspired by the folkier-type music of Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers. She has said that "It's definitely a straightforward pop album but with a bit of that influence in there. When I came to the label I just kept saying 'I want it to feel a little earthy and authentic' because I'm from Texas, and they were like 'earthy? What does that mean?'. But that’s the best way I can describe it. It's definitely pop — I wanted to have those melodies that get stuck in your head — but also have some foot-stomping and claps that bring me back to my roots". The record company were not impressed and refused to release it, but it did leak online some years later, so we can now hear what her new direction would have sounded like in 2014 had she got her way, and produced that music that she really wanted to.
Track listing
01 It All Starts Tonight
02 Neighborhood
03 All About You
04 Wild Night Out
05 Chasing The Sun
06 Feel Alive
07 Carry On
08 Wherever We Go
09 Outlaw
10 Hurts
11 If I Fall
12 This Heart
13 Better Days
14 Belong
15 Rebel Hearts
