A Life Radically Changed After Her 2nd Cancer – Singer Amelie Beyries’ Story

After being diagnosed with cancer, Amelie Beyries felt her life slipping through her fingers.

She was first diagnosed at 28. After treatment, she thought everything would improve, but many unexpected things happened.

Canadian-born pop singer and songwriter Beyries (pronounced Bay-riss) attracted attention with her 2017 album Landing. But her path to singing and songwriting has a very different story.

"The biggest thing about becoming ill was realizing how vulnerable I was."

Landing is full of melancholy songs: some reflect the darkness of life’s most desperate hours, while others offer a spark of hope for survival. Each track carries the emotional weight of a woman who has known pain.

"If you had known me 10 years ago, I never cried," she says, brushing away tears as she describes her cancer treatments. "Before I became ill, I was a very controlling person," she adds.

At the time, she worked in a demanding, fast-paced public relations job in Old Montreal, spending time outside work partying with colleagues and clients. This busy life changed suddenly when a lump appeared in her breast. After visiting her doctor, she was diagnosed with an aggressive breast cancer and called for immediate chemotherapy.

The seven-month treatment period ended with a partial mastectomy and two months of radiotherapy.

Those days were not easy, but Beyries recalls that her outlook on life and the pleasure she took from it changed.

Leaving work aside to listen to herself and clear her head, she bought a mountain house away from the city. It provided enough room for a piano inherited from the grandmother she had never met.

Beyries had been involved in music as a teenager, but only as an amateur. In her new mountain house, she began finding fresh musical inspiration.

Later, one of her songs was featured in a local fashion magazine alongside her breast cancer story. This was a meaningful gesture for Beyries, but she was not thinking of starting a music career. Life was finally returning to normal, and she did not need more turbulence.

A few months later, her cancer was found to have returned, and doctors said she would need treatment again.

"The first time, you do not know what to expect," she explains, continuing: "The second time, you do, and that frightened me greatly."

Recovering after complete surgical removal of her left breast was not so easy this time.

Without stable employment, she was struggling financially and had to sell her dream mountain house. When a buyer could not be found quickly, she went bankrupt.

"Everything was a complete mess," she recalls.

During this very dark depression, when she had lost all faith, Beyries immersed herself in her piano and wrote her song "Alone."

She insisted that no one should hear her recordings, but friends persuaded her to release them.

Her songs reached Montreal producer Alex McMahon, who invited her to the studio to open up and express her emotions. Together, they worked on songs by Fleetwood Mac, Elton John and Cat Stevens from the 1970s.

Landing also represents three generations of women in her family, each contributing to its creation. Every image on the album cover has meaning: her grandmother’s piano, a butterfly strap worn by her mother, and an hourglass representing life.

Asked about future plans, Beyries says talking about the future is difficult. She is writing songs for a second album but dislikes thinking too far ahead. Despite approximately 1 year of remission, she has already learned that long-term plans are not for her.

"I try to keep my mind focused only on what is happening now," she says.

The world had come to know Beyries through the music of the film starring Will Smith, The Pursuit of Happyness .