You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in eight years, deeply enamored with her recent boyfriend, and at long last the parent to a young child after facing fertility challenges for a decade, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, her latest release, was intended as an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (endometriosis, miscarriage, failed relationships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with her usual frankness. The lead track, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The cancer. Later follow-up track, the upbeat Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and she was speaking publicly about how she was living her best life, while at the same time living with breast cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every press talk, and they ask, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Well, not much…’” she has just had to call off performances because she’s still waiting for reconstructive surgery.
We meet at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a light brown synthetic jacket, blue jeans with detailed white appliqués, beige footwear and oversized specs. Think motorcycle style meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” A biker reference, I say, recalling the film. “That’s what people called me at school!” She grins. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and direct. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her first comedy performance next year. “I love making people laugh. During performances I frequently joke about the crowd.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was planning an slot at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an test, and they said, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I insisted, ‘Yet I sense it. I have arm pain and tingling in my hands whenever I wake up.’ And they replied, ‘We should biopsy it?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a Friday. The specialist told her if it was serious she’d contact on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was nothing. The way she describes it, it was just bad timing to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“Just two weeks before from debuting the project after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Are you free at six?’ And I assumed, ‘Oh, it’s a Zoom, it won’t be anything.’ 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, ‘Unfortunately but your biopsy results have shown high-grade cancer cells.’” How did you respond? “I replied, ‘Well, that’s not great. The timing is terrible.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
I’ve been labeled difficult for knowing myself
She viewed the procedure frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. In urgent cases you go on a gurney, but now I just marched with a hospital gown and my backside out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened recently and my affected breast now appears as a fruit under fabric.” Another grin. “The nipple was preserved.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her chest, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. So inconsiderate! I thought, don’t add insult to injury, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got perfectionism, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
A History of Health Challenges
She is familiar with health problems. She thinks her outlook on her diagnosis has been so upbeat because she’s used to medical emergencies. Frequently they align with professional successes, acting as a reminder, or punch in the stomach, to highlight not to assume everything is fine. “Truly, I feel the universe whispers, ‘Enjoying yourself? Hold on.’ From a young age, it has always gone alongside moments of success for me; something severe or obscure has affected my well-being.”
She reminisces to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut featuring in the stage in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine). That’s when she was found to have the heart condition WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and irregular beats. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and being readmitted at night.” She skips forward six years, and teenage Jess has joined the female band the group while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a car crash and my larynx moved up and I lost my voice for a year.”
Wow, I say, slow down, I need a moment. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
