Before achieving fame, Sheeran slept on American actor Jamie Foxx’s sofa for six weeks, during which Foxx took him to an open mic event that he was hosting. He drew a standing ovation in 12 minutes. After signing with Asylum Records, his debut album, + (pronounced “plus”), dropped in September 2011. It led to the UK and Australian charts hit number five in the US and have since been certified seven-times platinum in the UK. The album has the single “The A Team”, which got him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.

Music started young. At four he sang in the church choir. He studied guitar at a young age and released an EP at age 14. Sheeran moved to London when he was 16 in 2008, working over 300 live shows in 2009.

In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act ‘The A Team’. They nominated the song for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John.

Two of his albums are in the list of the best-selling albums in UK chart history X (at number 20) and + (at number 34).

In 2017 they appointed Sheeran appointment as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to music and philanthropy.

Fun facts –

He refers to his guitars as Lloyd, Felix, Cyril, Trevor, Keith, Nigel, and the one that battles re-creations at weekends, James The Second.

Ed Sheeran has written four songs for One Direction. ‘Little Things’, ‘Moments’, ‘Over Again’, and ’18’.

Taylor Swift contacted Sheeran after hearing his music while touring Australia in March 2012.

He later co-wrote and provided vocals for “Everything Has Changed”, a single featured on Swift’s fourth studio album, Red.