Hilary Erhard Duff

Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, and author. After working in local theater plays and television commercials in her childhood, she achieved fame playing the title role in the Disney Channel television series Lizzie McGuire. She also reprised her role in the The Lizzie McGuire Movie. With the success of the Lizzie McGuire franchise, she established herself as a teen idol. Duff subsequently ventured into motion pictures and has appeared in many successful films, including Agent Cody Banks, Cheaper by the Dozen, A Cinderella Story and Cheaper by the Dozen 2.

Duff has expanded her repertoire to include pop music and has released three RIAA-certified platinum albums. Metamorphosis, her debut studio album, was certified triple platinum. She followed it up with two more albums, Hilary Duff and Most Wanted, which were also certified platinum. In 2007, Duff released her third studio album, Dignity, which was certified gold and spawned her highest charting US single to date, "With Love". Best of Hilary Duff, a compilation of her greatest hits, was released in the last quarter of 2008. Duff has sold over thirteen million records worldwide.

She has also made a foray into the fashion industry by launching her own clothing lines, Stuff by Hilary Duff and Femme for DKNY Jeans. She has also signed with IMG Models and released two exclusive perfume collections with Elizabeth Arden. Her other business ventures include writing a young adult novel, Elixir, and working as an executive producer for According to Greta and as a producer for Material Girls and Beauty & the Briefcase.

Music career

Hilary Duff at the MuchMusic Video Awards in 2007

In 2002, Duff recorded a cover version of Brooke McClymont's "I Can't Wait" for the Lizzie McGuire soundtrack, and "The Tiki Tiki Tiki Room" for the first DisneyMania compilation album. She also released her first album, titled Santa Claus Lane which was a collection of Christmas songs which included duets with her sister, Haylie, Lil' Romeo, and Christina Milian. Accompanied by the Disney Channel-only single "Tell Me a Story (About the Night Before)", the album peaked at 154 on the U.S. Billboard 200 album chart and was certified gold.

Duff's second studio album, Metamorphosis (2003), reached number one on the U.S. and Canadian charts and sold over 3.9 million copies in the U.S by January 2007. The lead single, "So Yesterday" was a top ten hit in several countries; its follow-up was the Laguna Beach theme song "Come Clean". The third single, "Little Voice", was not released in the U.S. and was a minor hit in Australia. In late 2003, Duff embarked on her first concert tour, the "Metamorphosis" tour, and later the "Most Wanted" tour. Most shows scheduled in the major cities were sold out.

Duff's third studio album was the self-titled Hilary Duff, for which she co-wrote some songs. It was released on her seventeenth birthday (in September 2004) and debuted at #2 in the U.S. and at #1 in Canada.

 The album sold over 1.8 million copies in the U.S. Most Wanted, her first compilation album, was released in August 2005. Most Wanted included songs from her previous two albums, remixes and three new songs which included "Wake Up" written by Joel Madden and his brother, Benji, both members of Good Charlotte. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and became her third number one debut in Canada. It sold over two hundred thousand copies within its first week of release and was certified platinum by the RIAA a month after its release. In 2006, an Italy-only compilation, 4Ever was released. Duff also recorded a cover version of Madonna's "Material Girl" with her sister for their movie, Material Girls.

Duff co-wrote the material for her fourth studio album Dignity, along with Kara DioGuardi, who co-produced the album with Rhett Lawrence, Tim & Bob, and Richard Vission. She stated that compared to her previous music, it was "more dancey" and made use of more real instruments. She said, "I don't know exactly how to explain what we're doing, but it's fun and funky and different, something new for me. It's really cool". In November 2008, Duff's first greatest hits album, Best of Hilary Duff was released and the album's first single "Reach Out", which samples Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus", was released in the preceding month. The song became Duff's third #1 dance hit. She then parted ways with Hollywood Records after six years of service and then announced to MTV that she would begin work on her new album in December 2008. In October 2011, Duff mentioned plans of a possible new album to E! Online