Renee Geyer stays on song to hit the right note against cancer 'I didn't drop one gig. My gigs and mysinging saved my arse,' says singer Renee Geyer, 59, who recovered from breat cancer. Picture: James Croucher Source: The Australian ONE thing was uppermost in Renee Geyer's mind when she was battling breast cancer -- keep singing. The 59-year-old performer, who was diagnosed with the disease in 2009 and has made a successful recovery, said singing is what saved her. "My career saved me from moping," Geyer said. I didn't drop one gig. My gigs and my singing saved my arse. That distinctive, soulful voice has lost none of its power through her illness. "It's as good as it always was," she said. I'm fine. I've had a bout of cancer and it was a particularly nasty strain. I had to have a year of treatment and the side effects can be heart failure and bone problems. "It's not the cancer that is the worst thing," Geyer said, "it's the medication you have to take for five years. It f . . ked me up. I had all those parking accidents because I was disoriented. In 2011 she was fined $500 for careless driving following two incidents. Now Melbourne-based, Geyer, whose music has crossed jazz, pop, soul and R&B since she began performing at 16, is taking off in another direction. Her new album Swing is an exploration of big-band jazz, featuring classics such as My Funny Valentine and Fly Me to the Moon. Since I was really young I've always idolised Count Basie, especially that album at The Sands with Frank Sinatra. I've had about four versions of that album since I was 15. I liked Duke Ellington too, but when I heard Basie I was transfixed. The album also features reworkings of her earlier hits Say I Love You and It's a Man's Man's World, alongside a duet with one of her long-time admirers and collaborators Paul Kelly. Geyer said she got the idea to do a big-band album following the success of artists such as Michael Buble in Australia. She'll take the album out on the road from the end of next month. Meanwhile, Geyer is considering another book, a follow-up to her 2000 tell-all autobiography Confessions of a Difficult Woman. "That book was okay," she said, "but I think there's a better one in me. What I've done in the past 15 years would be worth one book in itself.