You can’t imagine it, the singer says. There she was gearing up for her first album release in eight years, blissfully happy with her recent boyfriend, and finally the mom to a little one after facing fertility challenges for ten years, riding high. Then in March she was found to have a breast cancer diagnosis.
The musician, real name J. Cornish, is famous for speaking her mind. The LP, Don’t Tease Me With a Good Time, was supposed to be an candid account, dealing with every bit of hardship she’d experienced since she last worked on songs (a gynecological condition, losing a baby, failed relationships, gaslighting, suicide) with her usual frankness. The first single, her single No Secrets, was released in the spring. But by then there was a mighty secret. The illness. Later second single, the upbeat Living My Best Life, came out in late spring and the artist was giving interviews about how she was living her best life, while at the same time coping with breast cancer. Subsequently she disclosed her condition, and in early July she had a mastectomy.
She gives me her best “Are you kidding?” expression. “I release with a song called No Secrets. I’m doing every press talk, and they’re, like, ‘What’s happening?’ and I respond, ‘Erm, yeah, nothing …’” the singer has just had to cancel tour dates because she’s still waiting for cosmetic procedures.
We’re at a photography studio in the capital. She is sporting a light brown synthetic jacket, jeans with elaborate white patches, beige footwear and large glasses. Think rocker vibe meets vintage look. “As if I’m in the 1970s and I should have a boyfriend with a big tache.” A biker reference, I say, referencing the picture. “They used to call me that!” She smiles. Jessie is fast-thinking, irreverent and filter-free. She says she has always been interested in humor and is hoping to make her standup debut next year. “I love making people laugh. When performing I frequently joke about the audience.”
Personal Battles and News
The artist was planning an slot at the ceremony when she found a lump. “I promptly visited to get it examined, had an scan, and they were, like, ‘It appears fine; your breasts are normal.’ And I was, like, ‘However, it’s there. I have arm pain and pins and needles in my hands whenever I get up.’ And they said, ‘Well, let’s just do a biopsy?’ The date was March 28, the post-birthday.” It was a weekend eve. The specialist told her if it was bad news she’d contact on the start of the week. By then she had assured herself it was okay. The way she explains it, it was just bad timing to face illness when she had many commitments.
“It was a fortnight prior from launching this thing after years away and four years without a single. And she contacted me and said, ‘Can you talk at six?’ And I assumed, ‘It’s virtual, probably routine.’ So I jump on the Zoom believing it’s all going to be positive, and she informs me, ‘Please take a seat.’ The solemn tone? And she continues, ‘I’m so, so sorry but your test results have shown malignant cells.’” What was your reaction? “I answered, ‘Well, that’s not great. 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 frightening and surreal. “I dislike anesthesia. They walk you down. You know when you have emergency surgery you go on a gurney, but this time I just marched with a hospital gown and my bum hanging out. Like a dystopian scene.” But, Cornish says, she’s been fortunate. Without chemo or radio, just the surgery. “Cancer is awful, but yet I’m grateful it was caught soon. I had the mastectomy four months ago and my affected breast now looks like a grapefruit under a tight bedsheet.” She smiles again. “The nipple was preserved.”
The next operation is both medical and cosmetic. Her chest, she observes, are now “asymmetrical. The size doesn’t match. How rude! I reflected, why make it worse, I’m already having a difficult experience. How offensive! Amusingly I said I’d avoid breast surgery because I’ve got obsessive tendencies, and I know they’d never be flawless. My plans were disrupted.”
Past Medical Issues
She is accustomed to medical issues. She feels her attitude toward illness has been so optimistic because she’s familiar with health crises. They have often coincided with professional successes, serving as a tap on the shoulder, or blow, to highlight not to be complacent. “Frankly, I feel life goes, ‘Enjoying yourself? Sit down.’ Ever since I was a child, it has always gone alongside achievements for me; a major or strange event has impacted my body.”
She takes me back to her childhood, already making her debut featuring in the London theater in the production (she was cast at the age of nine years old). That’s when she was found to have the medical problem WPW, which can cause a fast heartbeat as well as dizziness and palpitations. “I rehearsed between visits on an drip, and returning to the hospital at night.” She fast-forwards half a dozen years, and young Jessica has joined the girl group Soul Deep while enrolled in the performing arts school. “I just got my first record deal, and I had a stroke. 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 am overwhelmed. You really had a stroke at 17? She nods|agrees
