BLIND student Munawer Sheikh is hoping to become a Pop Idol a year after he was rejected by tough-talking pop maestro Simon Cowell.

Blackburn College student Munawer, 22, said he wants to prove that the visually impaired can be successful in the pop world.

And he has jumped the first hurdle by being invited to the first auditions of the second series which take place in June.

Munawer, who lives by himself in Whalley Range, lost his eyesight at the age of 13.

He has a disease which gives him very limited peripheral vision, but this has not halted his ambition to be a singer.

Last year Munawer, in the third year of an Access to Music course, got through to the third round of Pop Idol -- the first chance contestants get to sing in front of the famous judges from TV.

Munawer, who also plays piano, stood in front of star-makers Simon Cowell, Pete Waterman, Nicki Chapman and Dr Fox and sang 'Tears in Heaven' by Eric Clapton.

"I was so nervous," he said. "I went in, stood on a star which was on the floor and sang for a minute.

"After, Nicki Chapman said I had a great voice but the rest, including Simon Cowell, said I didn't have the image."

Simon Cowell was notorious for criticising the contestants in the first Pop Idol series eventually won by Will Young.

But Munawer has shrugged off his criticism and wants to be an inspiration to other blind people.

He has performed at concerts in Blackburn's Cellar Bar and musical influences include Carol King, Mariah Carey, Ella Fitzgerald and Diana Ross.

He said: "I want to be a performer. I want to be able to do it for blind people. A lot of blind people say they can't do it, but they can. I said to myself I will show them that they can do it.

"If you want to do something you can. I want to say 'I can play piano, so can you'."

Munawer was 14 when he discovered he could sing and discovered pop music.

He said: "I didn't know I could sing. I watched MTV and got really into it and said to myself I'm really going to be something some day."