Ed Sheeran – “It was my love for the guitar that first got me into music and singing.” – Birthday Special

Born as Edward Christopher Sheeran in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, on 17 February 1991. When he was a child, he moved with his family from Hebden Bridge to Framlingham in Suffolk. He has an older brother named Matthew, who works as a composer. Sheeran’s parents, John and Imogen, are from London. His paternal grandparents are Irish.

Ed Sheeran is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, No.5 Collaborations Project. After signing with Asylum Records, his debut album, + (pronounced “plus”), was released in September 2011 and topped the UK Albums Charts. It contained his first hit single “The A-Team”. In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act.

Sheeran’s second studio album, x (pronounced “multiply”), was released in June 2014. It was named the second-best-selling album worldwide of 2015. In the same year, x won Album of the Year at the 2015 Brit Awards, and he received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.

A single from x, “Thinking Out Loud“, earned him the 2016 Grammy Awards for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance. Sheeran’s third album, ÷ (pronounced “divide”), was released in March 2017 and was the best-selling album worldwide of 2017. The first two singles from the album, “Shape of You” and “Castle on the Hill“, broke records in a number of countries by debuting in the top two positions of the charts. He also became the first artist to have two songs debut in the US top 10 in the same week.

Ed Sheeran is one of those artists who is almost universally liked and respected, even if he does bump into the occasional controversy that casts doubt on his charming, laidback image. ‘Shape of You’ Released in 2017, the song became a global smash, staying in the number one spot for 12 weeks and then in the top 10 for months.

But the song became the center of a legal battle. According to The Times, documents were filed with the High Court accusing the pop star of what amounts to musical plagiarism. 26-year-old Sam Chokri, who goes by the name Sami Switch, alleges that parts of “Shape of You” were taken from his 2015 composition, “Oh Why.”