Jessica Simpson loses her voice

Jessica Simpson has been forced to cancel a string of performances to promote her new album A Public Affair, as she is suffering from a bruised vocal cord.

The singer was scheduled to sing live on the Today Show, MTV's Total Request Live and the Late Show with David Letterman, but has had to either postpone them or appear without performing to avoid doing any permanent damage to her voice.

Her representative Rob Shuter told People magazine: "Jessica has lost her voice on the eve of her album release. We hope she can recover. The timing could not have been worse."

Another source added: "[She was told that] if she does not observe vocal rest, she could lose her voice forever."