‘It was great bloody timing', laughed Chalker, the London-based, Australian singer-songwriter who released her critically praised debut record, 'Hemispheres' in November 2021.
Formerly, GRAMMY-credited Chalker was known for fronting Australian new-wave duo, We are the Brave, which racked up over a million streams across YouTube, Soundcloud and Spotify. She's performed alongside singer-songwriters like Passenger and collaborated with artists as diverse as Tate McRae, Glen Matlock, Isabella Summers, Hotei and Lisa Loeb, the latter for whom her songwriting helped earn a GRAMMY in 2018. In 2021, Chalker received a prestigious Australia Council grant to release her first record, having recently spoken about issues she'd overcome growing up in (then leaving) the Jehovah's Witnesses faith, and resultant challenges accepting herself as an artist.
So when 'Hemispheres' was named 'Record of the Week' by Australia's The Brag on release, receiving further praise from outlets like The Guardian and Wonderland, Chalker had a lot to celebrate.
Instead, she fell gravely ill.
'I wasn't feeling right for a while,' said Chalker. 'I remember writing my Christmas cards and not being able to hold a pen, or play guitar properly anymore. I was eating well and running lots, but looked terrible. I blamed the English weather.'
As her health subsequently deteriorated, Chalker began losing her vision and mobility. She also started experiencing painful flash headaches.
'I thought I was pregnant,' laughed Chalker who was, at the time, on immune drugs to suppress an autoimmune condition. 'My fertility specialist told me to come off the steroids, which had likely been masking my symptoms for a year or more. I went downhill drastically from there.'
Despite an initial diagnosis of long Covid, an MRI soon revealed a frightening diagnosis: Chalker had a brain tumour the size of a plum growing in her cerebellum.
'Imagine getting that news, then trying to process it,' Chalker recalls sadly. 'It was one of those fêted moments where time slowed down and everything was surreal. I asked the Dr. if this could be the reason why I had trouble falling pregnant. He just looked at me sternly said, 'I think you have bigger problems right now.'
Enroute to a hospital in North London, Chalker recalls clinging to her devastated husband, tears streaming down her face as she watched old London buildings, red buses and postboxes passing by, wondering if she’d see them again.
'I went from having the rest of my life in front of me to possibly not even the next hour,' she says sadly. 'It was fucked.'
On arriving to hospital emergency, Chalker was put on the strongest dose of steroids to stop cerebrospinal fluid swelling and a threatening stroke. Later, she was put under general anaesthetic and underwent a craniotomy, lasting 5 hours.
Fortunately, surgery was uneventful and all parts of her tumour - later proven benign - were removed.
'Gosh, I was lucky,' Chalker says nostalgically. A physio helped me walk again and set me tasks like sitting in a chair for an hour. Even something that simple would exhaust me.’
Despite everything, Chalker kept her spirits high. With friends, family and fans sharing supportive messages from around the world, it kept her determined to get better, and fast. After one week, Chalker was discharged from hospital.
'It was spring when I came out,' she says, smiling. "It sounds cliche but the sun was shining and daffodils were everywhere.’
Since then, Chalker has spent much of 2022 recovering, but says she is excited to play live shows again.
'Even though I can't play guitar as well anymore, my voice has actually become more resonant,' she said.
'It was funny, because prior to releasing my record, I'd spent a few years travelling back and forth to LA from Sydney as a songwriter. I'd actually named my album, 'Hemispheres' as a reference to left and right brain cognition, as well as travelling a lot between north and south hemispheres. After what's transpired though, it seems almost a prescient title. Either way, 'Hemispheres' has a brand new meaning to me now.... one I am really looking forward to sharing with people.'