How a Singer-Songwriter’s Cancer History Can Be Heard in Her Music

Danielia Cotton puts her whole life into her music — including her cancer history.

“Everything in my life affects my art,” Cotton, 57, told CURE® in an interview. “Your art really is affected, and is a result of what you're going through, and it's those stories and how you repackage the pain and you put it out there to let somebody else know that you're not the only one.”

Cotton received a diagnosis of thyroid cancer around a decade ago. Her entire thyroid was surgically removed, avoiding the need for radiation, and the singer was back on tour within a few weeks.

Thyroid cancer survivor Danielia Cotton released the EP “Charley’s Pride: A Tribute to Black Country Music” in August. Photo courtesy of Chia Messina

“That pretty much took care of it, although we have an atypical nodule now that we'll watch every six months with an ultrasound,” Cotton said. “There's no reason to suggest at this point that it could be [an issue] but every twice a year, from then on, you take a cancer test — which seems [like] some years I think about it [more], some years I'm more nervous than others, like this year, but thyroid cancer can actually be treated and potentially be put to bay even a second time.”

Cotton has a 6-year-old daughter, Olivia, with her partner, attorney Sam Roberts. Roberts received a diagnosis of mantle cell lymphoma in 2020.

“There's a definite feeling of helplessness when you're faced with a situation like that because when you love somebody, you just want to be able to take care of it,” Cotton said.

To date, Cotton has run eight marathons to raise funds for cancer research and continues to record and tour. Her latest EP, “Charley’s Pride: A Tribute to Black Country Music,” was released in August.

Cotton spoke with CURE® about how her cancer history can be heard in her music.

Transcript:

I think my sense of — I was saying to somebody the other day, to my therapist, I'll probably always be in therapy — that music, what I do, my whole life's in it. Everything I sing about is basically the culmination of my life and events that have happened.

I do have a very big rule which I always say comes from acting, which I always refer [actress] Uta Hagen: You can't go back and get something that you haven't really dealt with because then you'll get up on stage and you won't really have control of that emotion. And I'm a pretty emotive performer, and so I like to be in the moment. So I tend to pick things that I've moved through.

So this has given me less of a, “I don't fear death the way I did probably 10 years ago.” I don't know. I used to be really afraid of it. Not anymore. I don't know if that's a bit of somewhat of a faith journey too. I'm just at that place in my life where it doesn't scare me as a person.

So I just try to deal with things that are of the moment, but that I've moved through, and never to go into the dangerous territory of things that you haven't really worked through emotionally so that you don't lose control in front of an audience. But everything in my life affects my art. Your art really is affected, and is a result of what you're going through, and it's those stories and how you repackage the pain and you put it out there to let somebody else know that you're not the only one.

Transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

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