YORK country singer Suzy Martell makes her comeback appearance at The Junction on April 17, determined as ever to fight back from illness.

"I can't wait to get back playing," says Suzy, who has endured a battle against cancer for several years. "I feel great, I've been told it's in remission and I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone at The Junction."

Suzy is as resilient as ever.

"I've been taking alternative medicines and while I was last over in America last November, I visited Indian healers in Kentucky for hands-on healing at this pow-wow. Some people think I'm crackers for doing that but as long as I believe in it, that's all that matters," she says.

Suzy, 33, from Heworth, re-launched her singing career in 2001 after two operations to remove a cancerous tumour from her vocal chords, followed by a hysterectomy. In an ordeal that spanned 18 months, she had lost her singing voice and could not even speak for 12 weeks, and her parents had been told she would never sing again.

Yet through speech therapy and determination, she regained her voice and returned to performing - "It took a year to get my singing capacity back," she says - and landed a $120,000 recording contract in Nashville.

Now, after a winter away from performing, Suzy has a diary full of engagements once more. "It will be great to be back on stage again, singing songs from my Broken Hearts In Nashville album and some old country favourites," she says.

"I've got some great new band members: composer, arranger and guitarist Peter Smith, who has just set up the WDIO record label for York musicians, and Andy Nash, who's doing a PhD in music acoustics at York University, will be on bass." With them will be long-time band member Keith Jenkins on acoustic guitar.

In May, Suzy flies out to the United States for three months to play shows at The Bluegrass Inn and Tootsies in the capital of country, Nashville.

On her return to York, she is booked into Fibbers for September 7, and Joseph Rowntree Theatre on November 7, for a charity gala with her band and guests in aid of the Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic at York Hospital.

Tickets for April 17 cost £5, available in advance from The Junction or Timber Wolf Records, tel 01904 424439, or on the door, if any tickets remain unsold.

Updated: 09:46 Friday, April 11, 2003