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You can’t imagine it, the singer states. At that moment preparing for her new album launch in eight years, blissfully happy with her current love, and finally the parent to a young child after struggling to conceive for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in March she was told she had a breast cancer diagnosis.

The musician, real name Jessica Cornish, is known for telling it as it is. The record, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an open book, tackling every ounce of devastation she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, miscarriage, broken romances, emotional abuse, suicide) with typical candour. The initial release, the song No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The illness. Later second single, Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was giving interviews about how she was thriving, while still secretly coping with her cancer. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she received surgical treatment.

She shoots me her best “Seriously?” look. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m giving every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘What’s happening?’ and I’m, like, ‘Uh, nothing really’” Cornish has just had to call off performances because she’s awaiting follow-up surgery.

Our interview takes place at a photo studio in London. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with ornate white designs, cream boots and oversized specs. Picture rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “I feel like I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the movie. “That’s what people called me at school!” She smiles. She is sharp-witted, bold and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is aiming for her standup debut soon. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the audience.”

Health Struggles and Diagnosis

Cornish was planning an slot at the Baftas when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it looked at, had an ultrasound, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘Yet I sense it. I’ve got an achy arm and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘We should biopsy it?’ That was 28 March, the following my birthday.” It was a Friday. The doctor told her if it was concerning she’d contact on the start of the week. By then Cornish had convinced herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was simply too inconvenient to get cancer when she had so much on.

“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ So I join the call expecting it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ The solemn tone? And she says, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” What did you say? “I said, ‘That’s unfortunate. The timing is terrible.’ Immediately I felt was, ‘My child depends on me.’”

I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself

She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. They walk you down. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just marched with a medical attire and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. No chemotherapy or radiation, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened a few months back and my right breast now looks like a odd shape.” A further beam. “The nipple was preserved.”

The subsequent surgery is for health and appearance. Her chest, she notes, are now “asymmetrical. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I thought, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. My plans were disrupted.”

A History of Health Challenges

The singer is accustomed to medical issues. She thinks her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. Many times they occur alongside career highs, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to take anything for granted. “Honestly, I feel fate says, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ Since childhood, it has consistently accompanied achievements for me; a serious or unusual issue has affected my well-being.”

She recalls to her youth, already beginning featuring in the London theater in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as vertigo and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an intravenous line, and going back into hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the female band the group while studying at the performing arts school. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my throat was injured and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”

Wow, I say, wait, I am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees