A singer was left unconscious in a pool of blood after being hit over the head with a crowbar during a vicious mugging.
Zach Lount, lead singer of alternative rock band King No-One, suffered a deep cut to his head and lost two pints of blood after being attacked by three men in Ancoats on Thursday afternoon.
His laptop containing more than 2,000 songs he'd written was also stolen.
Zach, 24, has now appealed for the return of the Apple MacBook computer, saying it contained his 'entire life's work'.
He told the Manchester Evening News: "I was out for my daily exercise and I stopped in Cutting Room Square to sit on a bench.
"I had my laptop out to check a few emails, when these three lads approached me, two from behind and one in front.
"They shouted 'get that laptop' then they just started punching me and trying to drag me down.
"Then I felt this huge blow to the back of my head and everything just disappeared.
"When I came round there were about eight people around me. I looked to my left and there was a pool of blood. That freaked me out a bit.
"The police came and witnesses told them they saw me being hit with a crowbar and then they were kicking me when I was on the floor, but I don't remember any of that."
Zach was taken to hospital, where luckily doctors found he hadn't suffered a fractured skull.
He's now recovering at home in Castlefield.
The up-and-coming band were due to perform at world-renowned music industry showcase South by Southwest in Texas last month before heading out on a UK tour.
Those dates have been cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown.
And Zach says the theft of his songs is making an already difficult sutuation even harder to bear.
He said: "I am a songwriter, this is my living.
"The coronavirus has already hit us really hard and these songs are the only thing I have got.
"Everything I've wrote is on there. It's my life's work and and they've been taken.
"But the main thing is I'm OK. I've been getting lots of support so in a way I've been lucky.
"The thing I can't get my head round is why did these three lads do it?
"I don't hate them, because they must be really desperate to have to do something like this.
"There's something wrong in society for them to have to do that in the first place.
"But they won't get much money for the laptop. If I could get it back it would be amazing."
Police are investigating the incident, which took place at about 3pm on Thursday, April 9.
A crowdfunding campaign has also been set up to help support Zach.
