Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Jay’s battle with cancer has brought us closer than ever
Cheryl opens up about Bucks Fizz pal’s ordeal
CHERYL Baker has spoken of how brave Bucks Fizz bandmate Jay Aston’s cancer battle has made them closer than ever.
The Mirror revealed yesterday that Cheryl, 64, was the second person Jay phoned after being diagnosed with mouth cancer doctors fear could stop her performing – and even speaking.
Jay, 57, who won the Eurovision Song Contest with the band in 1981, will have part of her tongue removed.
Recalling the heartbreaking moment her pal revealed the news, Cheryl said: “It was a very tearful phone call. Her first line was, ‘It’s not good news, Cheryl’. Lets face it, for a singer, it’s the most devastating thing you could hear. But she is handling it absolutely brilliantly.”
And she said Jay has solid support from her friends as she faces her op.
Cheryl added: “What’s happened to Jay has brought the band and her and I closer together than ever before.
“We are as one. We are rooting for her. I wouldn’t imagine we could be as strong as we are at the moment... but we are.
“There have been ups and downs in Fizz’s career. All those early, silly things in the 1980s are under the bridge now.”
Jay left Bucks Fizz in 1985 and did not speak to Cheryl for 23 years before the group re-formed in 2004. Cheryl said she and original bandmate Mike Nolan, 63, will perform as a duo as they hit the road