You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. There she was readying for her comeback record in nearly a decade, blissfully happy with her current love, and at long last the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for a decade, on top of the world. Suddenly in spring she was diagnosed with cancer in her breast.
The musician, real name Jess Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d endured since she last made an album (endometrial issues, miscarriage, failed relationships, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, the song No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Then next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while all the while dealing with breast cancer. Subsequently she shared the news, and in early July she received surgical treatment.
She offers me her best “Seriously?” look. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they’re, like, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” Cornish has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s awaiting reconstructive surgery.
Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is dressed in a tan faux-leather coat, blue jeans with elaborate white patches, off-white boots and oversized specs. Imagine biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “I feel like I’m in the 70s and I should have a man with facial hair.” Easy Rider, I say, thinking of the picture. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. Cornish is quick, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is aiming for her standup debut in the coming year. “I enjoy humor. On stage I basically roast the crowd.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
The artist was getting ready for an appearance at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it checked, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your breasts are normal.’ And I responded, ‘But I can feel it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I rise.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The doctor told her if it was bad news she’d call on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to face illness when she had so much on.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after eight years without an album and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be positive, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What did you say? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘I have to survive for my boy.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She found the surgery terrifying and absurd. “I fear going under. They walk you down. In urgent cases you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a gown on and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she adds, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the procedure. “It’s terrible, but however Thank fuck I found it early. I underwent removal a few months back and my one side now appears as a fruit under fabric.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her breasts, she notes, are now “different sizes. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. How rude! I thought, no need to bully me, I’m already having a hard period. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d not undergo augmentation because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
A History of Health Challenges
Cornish is familiar with health problems. She believes her perspective on the cancer has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Many times they occur alongside professional successes, acting as a reminder, or blow, to make her recall not to assume everything is fine. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘You having a good time? Hold on.’ Ever since I was a child, it has consistently accompanied high points for me; a serious or unusual issue has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her youth, already starting her career performing in the London theater in a musical (she was chosen at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was told about the heart condition WPW, which can cause a tachycardia as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards several years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the female band Soul Deep while studying at the academy. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in recently I had a collision and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Wow, I say, wait, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
