Collins back after brain surgery

Edwyn Collins had a global solo hit with A Girl Like You in 1995

Pop singer Edwyn Collins is returning to music as he continues to recover from a life-threatening illness.

The 47-year-old, best known for A Girl Like You, releases a new single, You'll Never Know, on 10 September.

It is followed a week later by Home Again - the album he was working on when he fell ill in February 2005.

The ex-Orange Juice singer suffered two brain haemorrhages and spent six months in hospital after a surgical scar became infected with the MRSA bug.

The illness affected his movement and speech, but Edinburgh-born Collins was determined to return to the studio.

"I'm learning to live again," the singer wrote on his website.

"I'm very pleased with the album and songs. I'm getting there and I feel grateful at last."

The Scottish star says he is currently rehearsing with a band and hopes to return to the stage later this year.

"I sing every day," he wrote. "It's important for me. Music, it's everything to me."

Solo Career

Collins was a leading figure on the alternative Scottish scene in the late 1970s and 1980s, forming his first band, Nu-Sonics, aged 17.

They became Orange Juice, who were independent favourites and briefly broke into the mainstream with Rip It Up in 1983.

He went on to pursue a solo career, making an impact with A Girl Like You, a top 10 hit in seven countries in 1995.

Collins, who is based in London, has also produced records for bands like Sons and Daughters, The Cribs and Little Barrie.