You wouldn’t believe it, the singer remarks. At that moment gearing up for her comeback record in nearly a decade, ecstatically in love with her newish partner, and finally the mother of a toddler after facing fertility challenges for a decade, riding high. Then in spring she was told she had cancer in her breast.
The singer-songwriter, actual name J. Cornish, is known for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was meant as an transparent story, tackling every moment of pain she’d experienced since she last recorded music (endometriosis, losing a baby, unsuccessful partnerships, psychological manipulation, suicidal thoughts) with characteristic openness. The first single, No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there existed a huge secret. The cancer. Later second single, Living My Best Life, debuted in late spring and Cornish was talking to press about how she was enjoying life to the fullest, while still secretly living with the disease. Four weeks after she disclosed her condition, and in the start of summer she underwent breast removal surgery.
She shoots me her best “Seriously?” glance. “I put out with a song called the track No Secrets. I’m conducting every interview, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” she has just had to postpone shows because she’s yet to undergo follow-up surgery.
We’re at a photography studio in London. She is wearing a tan faux-leather coat, denim trousers with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and oversized specs. Imagine rocker vibe meets 1970s Nana Mouskouri. “As if I’m in the seventies and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” Like the film, I say, referencing the movie. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is sharp-witted, unfiltered and direct. She says she has always fancied doing comedy and is planning to attempt her initial standup show soon. “I love making people laugh. During performances I often tease the audience.”
Health Struggles and Diagnosis
She was planning an slot at the ceremony when she noticed an abnormality. “I quickly sought to get it examined, had an test, and they were, like, ‘It looks like nothing; your tissue is healthy.’ And I responded, ‘However, it’s there. I’ve got an achy arm and tingling in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they suggested, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ That was 28 March, the day after 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 she had persuaded herself it was okay. The way she tells it, it was inopportune to get cancer when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from debuting the project after years away and four years without a single. And she [the doctor] texted and said, ‘Is six okay?’ And I thought, ‘A video call, likely minor.’ So I join the call believing it’s all going to be fine, and she says, ‘You might want to sit.’ That sympathetic voice? And she says, ‘I regret to inform you but your test results have indicated aggressive cancer.’” How did you respond? “I answered, ‘Oh, that’s not ideal, is it?. What awful timing.’ My initial thought was, ‘I can’t die because my son needs me.’”
Some men find me challenging due to my self-awareness
She viewed the procedure scary and bizarre. “I hate being put under. They lead you. During crises you are wheeled, but now I just strolled down with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. It felt surreal.” But, she notes, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the op. “It’s terrible, but however I’m grateful it was caught soon. The surgery happened four months ago and my right breast now appears as a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” A further beam. “I got to keep the nipple, though.”
The follow-up procedure is therapeutic and aesthetic. Her breasts, she remarks, are now “asymmetrical. They didn’t do an implant as small as my original. That’s impolite! I felt, no need to bully me, I’m already having a rough time. How offensive! Ironically I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got OCD, and I know they’d never be perfect. Illness changed that.”
Previous Struggles
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her perspective on the cancer has been so positive because she’s experienced in medical emergencies. They have often coincided with professional successes, functioning as a wake-up call, or punch in the stomach, to remind her not to take anything for granted. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Take a seat.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside high points for me; a major or strange event has affected my well-being.”
She takes me back to her 11-year-old self, already making her debut performing in the West End in a musical (she was chosen at the age of 9). That’s when she was found to have the cardiac issue Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, which can cause a tachycardia as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I attended rehearsals intermittently on an IV drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and 17-year-old Jess has become part of the trio Soul Deep while enrolled in the academy. “I signed my initial contract, and I had a cerebral event. Then when I was ready to debut in recently I had a automobile accident and my larynx moved up and I was unable to vocalize for a long period.”
Hey, I say, hold on, I am overwhelmed. A stroke so young? She nods|agrees
