You wouldn’t believe it, the singer says. At that moment gearing up for her first album release in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her recent boyfriend, and finally the parent to a young child after dealing with conception issues for ten years, feeling invincible. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The artist, actual name J. Cornish, is renowned for telling it as it is. The album, her latest release, was intended as an transparent story, dealing with every moment of pain she’d endured since she last worked on songs (endometrial issues, pregnancy loss, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicide) with typical candour. The first single, No Secrets, was launched in the spring. But by then there remained a major undisclosed truth. The illness. Later next release, the upbeat Living My Best Life, was released in May and Cornish was talking to press about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with her cancer. A month later she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she had a mastectomy.
She shoots me her best “What the fuck?” glance. “I put out with a song called No Secrets. I’m conducting every media appearance, and they inquire, ‘So what’s new with you?’ and I answer, ‘Well, not much…’” the singer has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo reconstructive surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is dressed in a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with detailed white appliqués, cream boots and big frames. Picture biker chic meets 70s singer aesthetic. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a man with facial hair.” Like the film, I say, recalling the film. “I was nicknamed that in school!” She smiles. She is quick, bold and blunt. She says she has always wanted to try comedy and is hoping to make her initial standup show next year. “I love making people laugh. On stage I frequently joke about the fans.”
Medical Challenges and Discovery
She was getting ready for an appearance at the ceremony when she discovered a mass. “I immediately went to get it checked, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; you’ve got really good dense breast tissue.’ And I was, like, ‘But I can feel it. My arm hurts and numbness in my fingers whenever I wake up.’ And they said, ‘How about a biopsy?’ It happened on March 28, the day after my birthday.” It was a Friday. The physician told her if it was serious she’d call on the Monday. By then she had persuaded herself it was fine. The way she tells it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“We’re two weeks away from releasing the album after a long hiatus and no new music. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I jump on the Zoom thinking it’s all going to be good, and she goes, ‘Are you sitting down?.’ You know that sad tone they use? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your biopsy results have come back as high-grade cancer cells.’” What was your reaction? “I said, ‘Well, that’s not great. What awful timing.’ The first thing I thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Men have called me difficult because I’m a strong person who understands who I am
She considered the operation frightening and surreal. “I fear going under. You’re escorted. In urgent cases you roll down in a bed, but now I just walked with a medical attire and my backside out. It felt surreal.” But, Cornish says, she’s been blessed. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer sucks, man, but however Luckily it was detected early. I underwent removal a few months back and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “At least the nipple remains.”
The follow-up procedure is both medical and cosmetic. Her boobs, she remarks, are now “different sizes. The implant is larger than before. That’s impolite! I reflected, no need to bully me, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! It’s funny because I said I’d never get my boobs done because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be ideal. My plans were disrupted.”
Previous Struggles
She is familiar with health problems. She believes her outlook on her diagnosis has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with physical challenges. Frequently they align with peak moments, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to make her recall not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Things going well? Sit down.’ From a young age, it has often paired with high points for me; something severe or obscure has happened to my health.”
She recalls to her childhood, already beginning performing in the West End in Whistle Down the Wind (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was diagnosed with the cardiac issue WPW, which can cause a rapid pulse as well as lightheadedness and heart flutters. “I was going in and out of rehearsals on an intravenous line, and returning to the hospital at night.” She jumps ahead several years, and 17-year-old Jess has joined the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I secured a deal, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was planning to release songs in 2020 I had a automobile accident and my throat was injured and I couldn’t sing for a twelve months.”
Oi, I say, wait, I can’t keep up. At just 17? She nods|agrees
