Bucks Fizz star Jay Aston has spoken candidly about her recovery from mouth cancer, revealing she has been given the all-clear following treatment at Guy's Hospital.
The singer, now 65, was the youngest member of the group when they won the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with Making Your Mind Up. She left the band in 1985, citing lingering trauma from a severe tour coach crash and mounting internal tensions.
Cancer diagnosis and surgery
In a new interview, Jay opened up about her 2018 mouth cancer diagnosis. She discovered a patch "like a cobweb on my tongue" and admitted she was unsure if grief had brought it on.
"What happened was my mum and dad died," she told Best: Suddenly Single. "My mum had cancer. My dad had Alzheimer's. It was a tough time. I had a young baby and we had moved house twice."
"At the time I was very rundown."
Following a biopsy, doctors confirmed it was cancer before she underwent an operation. "They said we have to cut a major part of your tongue off," she said. "Then they took a piece of my leg."
She revealed part of her leg was then sown into the base of her tongue. "I am still conscious that I speak differently - but [Guy's Hospital] saved me."
Life after Bucks Fizz
In a candid update, Jay said: "I had my check two days ago and they said, 'We don't need to see you for another year.'"
Jay previously ended up "on the dole and living in a bedsit" after her legal battles forced her to sell her home in west Kensington. In 2001, she set up a performing arts school in her name, focusing her attention on teaching for some years.
But in 2009 she reunited with two of her bandmates Cheryl and Mike, the first time she had been a part of Bucks Fizz since 1985. The trio toured the UK extensively, renamed from 2016 as The Fizz.
