Ed Sheeran is one of the most famous and successful musicians in the world. His ability to command crowds with just his voice and a guitar is one of the reasons he is at the top today.
Ed`s rise to fame was without some hurdles. Before the limelight, Ed Sheeran was living an anonymous lifestyle in West Yorkshire, but somehow he knew that he was destined for greatness.
In this article, Xsnoize explains how the Halifax-born singer grew from a guitar-loving member of the Church’s choir with speech impairment, to an internationally acclaimed superstar.
Early Beginnings
Edward Christopher Sheeran was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England on February 17, 1991.
He grew up in a music family; his brother was a music composer and his parents were both in the Arts. He joined the church`s choir at an early age. When he got older, he learned how to play the Guitar. It is not popular news anymore, but, as a kid Ed Sheeran had severe speech impairment problems.
This was a result of an unsuccessful surgery he went through when he was a kid. He would stutter when speaking in class and with mates and he had very dull eyes. Ed was bullied because of his speech problem, which caused him to develop social anxiety. But, with time he realized that whenever he sang or hummed some random hymn, he did not stutter, he did not freeze, it just flowed. Music became his peace. And with time, he overcame his social anxiety and decided to pursue his dream to be a musician.
Damien Rice’s influence
The ginger-haired England singer had occasionally said in interviews that one of his inspirations to pursue a music career was Damien Rice. He said that after watching him perform live, something lit up within him, and he was inspired.
He began to write and record his songs in 2004, releasing his first EP, The Orange Room in 2005 while he was still a High school student. Ed Sheeran went on to release other collections of works like Spinning Man later that year and Want Some in 2007. With a bag of inspiration and a few pounds, Ed Sheeran decided to test the waters and moved to London in 2008.
The Big Move to the Capital
Having successfully overcome social anxiety and making the move to London, Ed Sheeran began his music career performing in small clubs with established musicians. He extensively gigged and performed as the opening act for Nizlopi in Norwich in April 2008.
Also, he performed with the Indie band the Noisettes and R&B singer Jay Sean. Performing in all these shows exposed Ed Sheeran to a variety of genres, which had a great influence on his musical career.
In 2009, the then-18-year-old released another EP, You Need Me and he went viral after he performed the song. The video of his performance was posted by Jamal Edward`s UK Hip-Hop platform, SB.TV.
This gave his career a big boost and the song was a major hit. The recognition began pouring in. Later that year, rapper Example invited Sheeran to come on tour with him. In the same month, he released his critically acclaimed Loose Change EP. His popularity steadily rose from the shy stutter to a supporting act.
Stardom and first album release
The big move to the capital was paying off. Also, he harnessed the influence of social media and began posting his videos online, on YouTube. His fan base increased, and he was recognized by many celebrities like the former Manchester United Defender, Rio Ferdinand, John Elton, and actor Jamie Foxx as the next big thing. Ed was invited by Jamie Foxx to perform on his show, The FoxxHole, in Los Angeles.
In 2011, he released another EP, No. 5 Collaborations. It 7000 copies in its first week of release and debuted at no. 2 on iTunes. This was a remarkable achievement for Ed Sheeran being that the EP was an independent project without any label promotion. With this, he signed his first recording contract with Asylum Records.
Ed Sheeran released his first studio album, + (Plus) in 2011, on September 11, 2011. The album debuted at no. 5 on the US Billboard Hot 200 and no. 1 on the UK Album Charts. The song was the eight-best-selling single of 2011. It also entered the UK Singles Chart at no. 1 with sales of 58,000 copies in its first week. The second single from the album was released on 26 August, You Need Me, I Don`t Need You. It peaked at no. 4 on the UK Singles Chart.
Awards and recognition
He received his first Grammy nomination in 2013 for Song of the Year for his single, The A-Team. And it bested Adele`s Rolling in the Deep for Best Song Musically and Lyrically at the Ivor Novello Awards in 2012.
In February 2012, Ed Sheeran received his first Brit Award for British Solo Album and British Breakthrough Act of the Year. He co-wrote Moments a single on One Direction` debut album. From March – September 2013, he performed as the opening act in Taylor Swift`s The Red Tour. He even got a scarlet red tattoo to commemorate the tour.
His second album, X (Multiply) was released on June 23, 2014. The album peaked at no. 1 on the UK Album Charts and US Billboard 200. He embarked on a tour that started in Osaka, Japan, in support of the album. Sheeran released the third single of the album, Thinking Out Loud, after Sing and Don`t on 24 September 2014. It earned him two Grammy Awards in 2016 for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. Spotify named him the Most streamed artist and X, the most streamed album. The song was also the first single to spend a full year on the UK Top 40 Charts. He was making waves and was headlining shows, events, and festivals with Ed Sheeran tickets in hot demand.
He was named as one of the headlining acts to perform at the AFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Grand. Also, he joined Beyoncé, Coldplay, and Pearl Jam to perform at the Global Citizen Festival on Central Park`s Great Lawn. In the same year, his song I See Fire was featured in the end credits of the movie “The Hobbits: The Desolation of Smaug”.
Controversies and personal difficult period
In 2017, the heirs of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote Let`s Get It On with Marvin Gaye, sued Ed Sheeran for Copyright Infringement. They claimed that Ed Sheeran stole some elements of their song to make Thinking Out Loud.
2023 was a busy year for him. His emotions were tested and strained. His wife was diagnosed with cancer while she was pregnant. He lost Jamal Edward of SB.TV. Although, Ed won the trial against the Townsend heirs. The ruling was in his favour after it was proven that the “elements” Townsend and Gaye were claiming as theirs were also used in songs that even predate Let`s Get It On. It was only fitting when Ed Sheeran released – (Subtract), it did not possess the typical pop-rock sound but had themes of grief, loss, and healing in it.
“Divide” — Ed Sheeran’s album to stardom
Arguably, Divide is Ed Sheeran‘s best album because of hot tracks like these. With this global achievement, artists were queuing up for a shot to collaborate with Ed. Taylor Swift featured him in her song End Game. The rap-god Eminem also featured Sheeran on one of his songs for his next album, Revival.
In 2018, he got married to his childhood friend, Cherry Seaborn. He released his next album “=” (Equals) on October 29, 2021. It had hit tracks like Bad Habits, Shivers, and 2steps.
At first, critics did not appreciate the art, but with the successes it acclaimed later on, no one could deny the fact that Ed Sheeran was meant for the spotlight.
Ed Sheeran`s journey to stardom is an inspiring story of how talent integrated with hard work begets a success story.
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