LIFE is sweet for songwriter Bruce Hammond as his tune Chocolate is set to soar up the charts.

Bruce 48, from Weymouth, wrote and produced the song Chocolate (Choco Choco) which will be performed by Soul Control on Top of the Pops Saturday on BBC 2 this weekend.

Bruce, whose family still live in the town, works as a songwriter and producer in Berlin. He said: "I'm too old to be a pop star these days so I auditioned for a band to do it.

The song has been released in 24 countries and sold 200,000 copies in Germany in just 14 days. It has reached number three in Austria, number four in Switzerland and is the lead track on the top-selling compilation in Spain.

Bruce said: "When you are writing cheesy stuff like this you have to aim for the charts but I didn't expect it to be so successful, the record companies were fighting each other to get it."

He added that the success of the song was due to the simple lyrics. Bruce said: "When you're writing pop you either need to be sexy or have a good gimmick.

"I'm a bit past doing the sexy thing so I wrote it as a gimmick," he added. The song's success in Spain has been aided by a coincidence - 'chocolate' is Spanish slang for hash.

"But I have never really had a hit in the English charts. I have done really well in the German market but there is still that longing to show my work to friends and family at home.

"It's a hard market to conquer but the English are a strange bunch - we still dance to The Birdie Song."

Bruce said that despite all his work he still phones his mother Sally Hammond every day and hopes to visit at Christmas. Sally, 73, who lives in Milton Row Weymouth, said: "Bruce has always been into music and this song is a real grower. Some friends of mine just came back from holiday and said they kept on seeing the video on TV."

Bruce achieved notoriety in Germany when he released the single Geil in 1986. He said: "The word 'geil' was a bit naughty. The single was banned from the radio and went to number one straight away."

Chocolate (Choco Choco) makes its debut in Britain on August 30, accompanied by the cartoon video of its two singers Tom and Leo. It is due to be released in Asia, Australia, Japan, Canada, Mexico, South Africa and the USA.