AceShowbiz - Singer/songwriter Rosanne Cash has struggled with life-altering side effects since undergoing brain surgery to alleviate serious headaches - insisting she is "not the same person" and now has "manic energy". The daughter of late country music legend Johnny Cash experienced persistent headaches for years, and discovered from doctors the pains were a symptom of a serious problem with her cerebellum, which was crushing her brain stem.

In 2007, she underwent major surgery at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, during which neurosurgeons cut through the lining of her brain. Cash insists her personality has been permanently altered by the operation, but she's happy about the affects it's having on her creativity.

She tells New York Magazine, "I'm totally not the same person. I have a lot more manic energy. And I experience music differently. My theory is, my brain problem was like a veil over my experience of music, and they took the veil off. It's so great... When you get a glimpse of your own mortality, it's very motivating."