Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran is a prominent British singer-songwriter, renowned for his blend of acoustic pop and hip-hop influences. He gained widespread recognition with his debut album, + (2011), which features the hit single "The A Team." Following this, his second album, x (2014), solidified his status in the music industry, with popular tracks like "Thinking Out Loud," which became a wedding favorite. Sheeran's third album, ÷ (2017), won him Grammy Awards and broke streaming records upon release.
Born on February 17, 1991, in Halifax, England, Sheeran grew up in an artistic environment that fostered his musical ambitions from an early age. He began performing at local venues before achieving major success, including a record deal with Atlantic Records after the release of his EP No. 5 Collaborations Project in 2011. Over the years, he has collaborated with a range of artists, bridging genres and appealing to a diverse audience.
In addition to his music career, Sheeran has been involved in philanthropic efforts, including the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation. His personal life includes a marriage to Cherry Seaborn, with whom he has a daughter. As of 2023, he has continued to release music and expand his artistic influence while maintaining a significant global following.
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Subject Terms
Ed Sheeran
Singer-songwriter
- Born: February 17, 1991
- Place of Birth: Halifax, England
Contribution: Ed Sheeran is a British singer-songwriter best known for his debut album, + (2011), featuring the Grammy-nominated single “The A Team.” His Grammy-nominated second album, x, furthered his success in the international music world. His third record, ÷, won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album.
Background
Edward Christopher Sheeran was born on February 17, 1991, in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, to Imogen Lock and John Sheeran. He has an older brother named Matthew. John and Imogen, both art lecturers and former curators, strived to make both art and music an integral part of their children’s upbringing. In 1990, they established the prominent art consultancy Sheeran Lock, which organized art exhibitions and arts-education programs throughout the United Kingdom and Europe.
Sheeran began singing in his church choir with his mother at age four and eventually began teaching himself guitar. As a child, he was strongly influenced by his parents’ love of Northern Irish musician Van Morrison. When Sheeran was eleven, his parents took him to a private performance by contemporary singer-songwriter Damien Rice, attended only by members of his fan club. Sheeran was given the opportunity to meet Rice after the performance, an event that inspired him to begin writing and recording songs of his own.
Sheeran attended Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham, Suffolk, until the age of sixteen, when he dropped out to pursue music full time. He spent much of 2007 and 2008 traveling the United Kingdom by train, seeking open-mike performances at cafés and bars while relying on the kindness of friends and strangers for lodging.
Career
Sheeran’s early performances included both his guitar-based song work and hip-hop-influenced music, as well as beat boxing. His relentless networking led to gigs supporting such prominent UK acts as Noisettes, Jay Sean, and Nizlopi. In 2009, he logged over three hundred performances at open mikes, festivals, and bars throughout the United Kingdom, an experience that increased both the power of his live performance and his confidence in his ability to command a crowd. By decade’s end, Sheeran was self-producing and self-recording EPs of his music and posting them on the internet.
After touring with rapper Example in early 2010, Sheeran flew to Los Angeles and began performing at coffeehouses, parties, and bars throughout the city. One of these performances was attended by the manager of American actor Jamie Foxx. Impressed by the young singer-songwriter’s talent, Foxx’s manager invited Sheeran to perform at one of the actor’s Foxxhole nights at the Conga Room club in Los Angeles. The performance was broadcast on Foxx’s popular satellite radio station, The Foxxhole. Foxx and Sheeran developed an immediate rapport, and the actor invited Sheeran to stay at his home and record in his private studio.
Armed with international performing experience and a renewed sense of purpose, Sheeran returned to England and rejoined the acoustic circuit. His performances on The Foxxhole bolstered his internet exposure tremendously, resulting in increased viewership of his videos and performances on YouTube.
Sheeran broke through to stardom in the United Kingdom with his eighth self-released EP, No. 5 Collaborations Project (2011), a compilation of eight tracks recorded with prominent London hip-hop artists. The EP’s mixture of contemplative rap verses and Sheeran’s haunting vocal melodies made it a sensation in the United Kingdom, and its popularity landed Sheeran a record deal with Atlantic Records.
The lead single of Sheeran’s major-label debut, “The A Team,” a somber acoustic lullaby about a drug-addicted girl, was released in April 2011 to huge praise. The album itself, Plus (styled +), was released in September of that year. It received favorable reviews and was a major commercial success, debuting at number one on the UK Albums Chart and reaching number five on the Billboard 200. Sheeran supported the album’s release by opening for British band Snow Patrol at most of their US performances during their 2012 tour. In 2013, he toured the United States and Canada in support of singer-songwriter Taylor Swift.
Sheeran followed this success with the worldwide release of a second studio album, titled x (pronounced "multiply"), in the summer of 2014. The lead single, "Sing," landed in the top twenty of the Billboard Hot 100 while his second single, "Don't," became the first to break into the top ten. "Thinking Out Loud" also became a hit—despite taking several weeks to get to number one on the singles chart in the United Kingdom—almost reaching number one in the United States; the single was also a popular choice for the first dance of brides and grooms in both the United Kingdom and the United States. Critically and commercially successful, the album contributed significantly to Sheeran being named the most streamed global artist in 2014 and it was recognized as that year's best-selling album in countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia. Additionally, x broke a record by staying in the top ten on the United Kingdom's Official Albums Chart for a full year. By September 2015, over ten million copies of the album had been sold.
After completing the tour for x in 2015, Sheeran announced that he would be taking a year off from music. During this year, Sheeran traveled and started his own music label, Gingerbread Man Records. He signed several artists, such as Jamie Lawson and Foy Vance, as well as himself. In March 2017, he released his third studio album, ÷, which broke streaming records on its first day of release for the number of streams in a single day. Reviewers had mixed reactions to the album; outlets like the New York Times and Rolling Stones reacted positively, while others panned the album. Pitchfork, for example, gave the album a 2.8 out of 10. In early 2018, Sheeran received two Grammy Awards for his work on ÷. For the first time in his career, he won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album in addition to Best Pop Solo Performance for the single "Shape of You."
In 2019, Sheeran released No. 6 Collaborations Project, a collection of fifteen songs, each featuring different musical artists, such as Eminem, 50 Cent, Chance the Rapper, Travis Scott, Skrillex, Bruno Mars, Chris Stapleton, and British rapper Stormzy. Singles from the album include “I Don’t Care,” featuring Justin Bieber; “Beautiful People,” featuring Khalid; and “South of the Border,” featuring Camila Cabello and Cardi B. The same year, he appeared as himself in the musical comedy Yesterday and wrote the country single "Tip of My Tongue" for Kenny Chesney.
Sheeran released the surprise single "Afterglow" in December 2020. He followed with the single "Bad Habits," the official lead single from his upcoming album, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The album, titled = (pronounced equals), was released in October 2021. Other singles from the album include "Visiting Hours" and the number one hit "Shivers." In addition to = reaching number one on the Billboard 200 chart, the single "Bad Habits" earned Sheeran a Grammy Award nomination for Song of the Year.
On December 3, 2021, Sheeran and John Elton released the collaborative holiday single "Merry Christmas," the profits of which benefited the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation. In March 2022, Sheeran and his cowriters for the song "Shape Of You" were sued by musicians Sami Chokri and Ross O'Donoghue for alleged plagiarism of their 2015 song "Oh Why." Sheeran won the lawsuit and was deemed by a judge to have not plagiarized the song in April 2022. Songs released in 2022 included "The Joker and the Queen," a collaboration with Taylor Swift, and several others from his = album. He also began his +–=÷x Tour (Mathematics Tour) and started a clothing brand called Lucy & Yak.
Sheeran released two albums in 2023. The first, - (Subtract), was released in May and included the singles "Eyes Closed", "Boat", and "Life Goes On". The second, Autumn Variations, was released in September, but no singles or music videos were released from songs on the album.
Impact
Before reaching his mid-twenties, Ed Sheeran had established himself as a cross-cultural musical phenomenon. The credit for his success rests largely with his intensely fierce work ethic and his refusal to turn down any opportunity to perform. The simplicity of Sheeran’s catchy melodies and the honesty of his song narratives are often what fans are first to praise, while his interest in numerous genres, as evidenced in his expansive catalog of independent releases, gives his work a unique edge that attracts fans of all ages and musical preferences.
Personal Life
Ed Sheeran’s mentor is the venerated British singer-songwriter Sir Elton John, who calls the young guitarist weekly to offer advice and support. Sheeran is managed by a representation company owned by John. Sheeran began dating a former high school friend, Cherry Seaborn, in 2015, and they became engaged in early 2018. They married in secret later that year. In August 2020, the couple had their first child, daughter Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran.
Bibliography
Cox, Jamieson. "Ed Sheeran Multiplies His Appeal on x." Review of x, by Ed Sheeran. Time, 31 May 2014, time.com/2802761/ed-sheeran-x-album-review/. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
Doyle, Patrick. "Ed Sheeran's Heartache and Wildest Nights: Behind His Raw LP x." Rolling Stone, 7 Apr. 2014, www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ed-sheerans-heartache-and-wildest-nights-behind-his-raw-lp-x-20140407. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
Ed Sheeran Official Website, www.edsheeran.com/. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
Haugh, Richard. “Ed Sheeran Battles Rihanna for Top Spot in Album Chart.” BBC News, 10 Jan. 2011, news.bbc.co.uk/local/suffolk/hi/people‗and‗places/music/newsid‗9354000/9354954.stm. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
Lindvall, Helienne. “Behind the Music: How Ed Sheeran Prospered by Doing Things His Way.” The Guardian, 9 Feb. 2012, www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2012/feb/09/ed-sheeran-producer-jake-gosling. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
McCormick, Neil. “Ed Sheeran: ‘I Haven’t Got Used to the Screams.’” The Telegraph, 3 Aug. 2011, www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/8679492/Ed-Sheeran-I-havent-got-used-to-the-screams.html. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
Petridis, Alexis. “Ed Sheeran: ‘I Apologise for My Fans.’” The Guardian, 16 Feb. 2012, www.theguardian.com/music/2012/feb/16/ed-sheeran-i-apologise-for-my-fans. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.
Thomas, Carly. "Ed Sheeran Says There Will Be No Singles or Music Videos for New Album ‘Autumn Variations’." Hollywood Reporter, 30 Sept. 2023, www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/ed-sheeran-new-album-autumn-variations-no-singles-music-videos-1235605571/. Accessed 16 Sept. 2024.