(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Jessie J feared she'd never walk or sing again after she suffered a stroke.

The singer was diagnosed with a heart problem when she was growing up, then had a mild stroke when she was 18. It happened just as her career was starting to go places, and left her terrified. Jessie came to the conclusion she needed to realise her dreams and used the incident to push herself forward.

"I'd just been signed to Sony, had got back from America and I was sat in the hospital thinking, Woah, hold up a minute. Why did I have a stroke?' It made me realise that, whoever you are, wherever you're from, however many times a day you run or whatever you do eat or don't eat sh*t happens, and you get ill. When you're sitting there thinking, Will I walk again? Will I sing again? Will my right side go back to normal?' you think, I haven't got time to waste,'" she explained to the British edition of Glamour magazine.

Jessie, 23, immediately realised she wanted to be known for the right reasons, and to make music she was proud of. That meant she decided to be more assertive when it came to her image, and vocal about what she was, and wasn't, comfortable with.

"That's when I kicked into gear and didn't take any sh*t from anyone. I said [to the record company], This is what my album's going to sound like, and you're going to stop trying to put me in a bikini next to a rapper,'" she added. (C) Cover Media