GLASGOW'S first lady of jazz Carol Kidd will fly back to Scotland this month for an emotional homecoming gig.

It will be the first time Carol, 67, has performed in public since undergoing treatment for breast cancer.

Carol, 67, who now lives in Majorca, was given the shock diagnosis last October but kept her illness secret from her family and fans.

She asked her oncologist to postpone cancer surgery to January, so she could perform at a family event in December.

Now in the clear, Carol, who counts singer Tony Bennett and Prince Charles as fans, says she can't wait to return home to perform at the Glasgow Jazz Festival on June 26.

She says: "It's going to be very very special and I know it's going to be emotional.

"I thought, 'it's time now to get back on the horse'. If I keep putting it off I am scared I would not go back to it and I miss it.

"I haven't been back since Christmas.

"I remember saying to the surgeon, 'I don't want this operation now because I do have a very important gig to do in December'. They sort of said 'okay' because the tumour was quite small.

"I did not tell anybody until I knew I was coming back for the operation and then I had to tell my family, which was terrible."

Carol, who was born in Shettleston and was awarded an MBE in 1998, had an inkling all was not well with her health when she began feeling unusually tired last summer.

She says: "I went to Taiwan for a gig in October and was unnaturally tired a couple of months before that. I did the gig and it took an awful lot out of me.

"Normally, you are high after a gig, but I just fell into bed. I came back here and I let it go until my birthday on October 19. Then I was having a shower and getting ready to go out and I found a lump in my right breast.

"I thought, 'That's not right', Luckily my doctor lives two houses from me.

"He examined it and said, 'There is definitely a lump there. We are going to fast-track you through this.' I got an appointment to go to hospital the next day in Palma. They told me it was very small, you've got it in time, luckily.

"It was a relief to hear it was so small but the shock did not hit me until I got home, I just sat down and burst into tears."

"I was really, really down. The decision in the end was to do a lumpectomy, which was terrific."

Carol, who lives in Peurto Pollensa, in the north of the island, had to undergo five weeks of radiotherapy because the tumour was 7mm.

Her friends rallied round to drive her the hour-long journey to Majorca's capital city for early morning treatment.

She says "The treatment was not painful, just very tiring. I would literally wrap myself up in my favourite shawl and fall asleep in the car.

"It burns your skin, so I have a San Tropez tan on the right one and the left one is white."

She believes the trauma of her mother, sister and brother dying within 18 months and the death of her partner, John Mackay, contributed to her illness, which was treated succesfully.

"It was horrific. I believe that had a lot to do it," she says. "Any kind of trauma can trigger a bad cell. That's the way I see it, but not everyone sees it like that."

"I am in the middle of writing my autobiography at the moment. Some days I am too tired to write. I just roll with my body.

"Then, when I am feeling energetic I will sit for four hours. I am also painting and have an exhibition coming up. That keeps me busy."

Carol, once described by Frank Sinatra as the "best-kept secret in British jazz", will sing at The Fruitmarket in the year marking the 20th anniversary of its transformation as a concert venue.

Her Glasgow fans may be forgiven for doing a double take when they see her on stage.

"I put a toner on my hair and it turned green. Nobody told me that when you have radiotherapy you should not put any products on your hair," she says with a laugh.

"It has now gone orange but I don't care. At least I have still got my hair. I have been really lucky."

caroline.wilson@eveningtimes.co.uk