A BID to raise cash for a popular singer who lost the ability to speak after a life-threatening illness has been boosted by Welsh drummer Stuart Cable.

The former member of the Stereophonics heard about 32-year-old Kerry Acton, the former frontman of Chepstow soul band Soul'd As Soul, who suffered a liver infection that saw him in a coma for three months.

After a year recovering at Newport's Royal Gwent Hospital, then a specialist coma rehabilitation unit at Rookwood Hospital in Cardiff, and, finally, the Chepstow Community Hospital, Kerry is living in Sedbury, near Chepstow, with his parents, Fred and Audrey. Now friends and family are on a fundraising mission to buy him back his power of speech through a £1,000 voice box.

His old band are re-forming for a special fundraising concert at the Tidenham Royal British Legion this Saturday, and will be joined by a rollcall of other Chepstow artists and bands.

And former bandmate Alison Durran-Beasley asked Mr Cable to offer some rock merchandise to help raise the money.

Mrs Durran-Beasley said: "Stuart and I have a mutual friend, which is how it came about, but he wasn't hard to persuade.

"Stuart has signed a pair of his drumsticks and a copy of the You've Got To Go There To Come Back LP.

"There were only 3,000 12-inch vinyl copies of it pressed, so it's quite rare. We're very grateful - one Chepstow man has already offered me £100 for it."

Kerry Acton's mother, Audrey, said the support the family has received from the community since Kerry's story appeared in the Argus has been "unbelievable", and said some people who can't make the concert have donated money anyway.

She said: "Kerry's eyes have lit up whenever the gig has been mentioned."

Mrs Durran-Beasley said: "I've told him that he'll know when he hears his old songs that we're not as good without him."