Brett James was heading for a career in medicine before moving to Nashville in the early '90s to pursue music. But after seven unsuccessful years he returned to Oklahoma to resume his studies, his dream seemingly over.

The universe, however, had different ideas – three days after starting university again, he received news that Faith Hill had recorded one of his songs for her album, Breathe. Over the next five months Brett had no less than 33 songs cut and ended up with five Top 10 singles, signalling the end once and for all of a career in medicine.

In the years since Brett has had more than 500 of his songs recorded, by artists as diverse as Bon Jovi, Kelly Clarkson, Tim McGraw and Keith Urban. He’s written numerous Number One hits, and in 2006 won his first Grammy for writing 'Jesus Take The Wheel' by Carrie Underwood.

We talk about that rollercoaster ride in this interview, and how Brett went from being the next big thing in Nashville to (in his words) a has-been, before resurrecting his career and becoming one of the world's hottest songwriters.