Jessica Simpson nearly quit music career

Jessica Simpson has admitted that she came close to quitting her music career following criticism of her Dolly Parton tribute performance in 2006.

The singer gave a poorly-received rendition of Parton's hit song '9 To 5' at the annual Kennedy Centre Awards ceremony, which were honouring the country music star's lifetime achievements. Her performance was later edited out of a CBS broadcast of the event.

However, to Simpson's surprise, she later struck up a friendship with Parton. They have even worked together on Jessica's debut country album Do You Know, which will be released later this month in the US.

"You know, what happened at Kennedy Centre, I really thought I was done singin'. I was just at a place where I'd lost a lot of confidence and I didn't even know who I was," Simpson told E! Online. "But Dolly totally took me under her wing and helped me up and over the cares of the world.

"It went from the Kennedy Centre to her being a part of this record and getting letters from her of encouragement. She told me she's never been more proud of anything in her whole life. And I have it written down in her handwriting! I do owe a lot of my confidence to her."

Asked if she has any more acting projects lined up, Simpson replied: "Hopefully there’s more acting to come. I'm not closing that chapter of my life by any means. But I am all about the music right now."