The Man Inside My Head sounds like a normal title for a pop song written by a passionate young man keen to bear his soul.

But this particular song is not about expressing the innermost thoughts of songwriter Ashley Bruce.

What he is singing about is the surgeon who really was inside his head performing surgery following a life-threatening brain haemorrhage.

Before the haemorrhage, Ashley was determined to forge a successful music career. His singing and songwriting career had to be put on hold while he recovered but he is now back on track with a CD with the help of top producer Gareth Young.

Young has produced Ronan Keating and All Saints and his latest project with Ashley is the singer's new album Totally Blown Away. He was due to launch it, along with his web site, today.

Ashley, of Shotters, Burgess Hill, is confident his musical career will take off soon and has just returned from Los Angeles where he met record companies who expressed interest in his album.

He said: "I don't mean to sound presumptuous and cocky but I just know that one day I am going to be standing up on stage at an awards ceremony.

"You have to have self-belief and when I came round from my brain op I had an overwhelming belief that I could use this talent. I have so much more focus now than I had before the brain injury."

Ashley describes his style as a cross between David Gray and Robbie Williams with a bit of Busted! thrown in and, at 32, he hopes to avoid the teen market. He has played and written music from the age of ten but it was only a hobby and a dream until his illness in December 1998.

He now runs three miles a day and visits the gym three times a week.

He said: "It changed my life forever. One minute I was walking around like any normal 27-year-old, going clubbing and having fun and the next minute, bang. I'm staring death in the face. My life has not been the same since."

To find out more about Ashley and his music, visit his web site www.ashleybruce.com