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For Geordie soul singer John Turrell, a battle with skin cancer was a decisive factor in setting him on the road toward his new triumphant solo debut album, The Kingmaker.
Illness struck at a critical point in Turrell's life. He was married with three children, and he and his wife Nicola were struggling to make ends meet as cutbacks hit the college were he worked.
"All of a sudden I had this thing growing out of my hand," John, 35, recalls. "At first, the doctors said I'd been bitten by something. A month later I was taken into hospital and they discovered it was a carcinoma.
"It was really scary. I'd got three lovely little daughters, all under the age of three. The choice was to either use this to my full advantage or wallow, blaming it on work or stress.
"There was just an explosion of stuff I wanted to say. Not that I ever thought it was going to get the better of us."
Now fully recovered and nursing a pint in a central London bar, Turrell was raised...