MUMBAI: Ed Sheeran will leave his fans swooning with his signature set up – one man, one stage and the performance of a lifetime. The countdown has truly begun and so has the preparations for one of the greatest nights this year. But, before you attend the concert on 19 November at Jio Gardens, BKC, here are a few things that you must know about Ed.
Interesting facts –
- He sang in a local church choir from the age of four and learnt to play the guitar and piano from a young age, too. He later wrote songs while he was in high school and began recording music when he was 13. He also plays the piano, bass, drums and cello. Multi-talented is an understatement! Ed was truly born to be a star!
- Shocking indeed. After struggling to pay his rent, Ed Sheeran ended up sleeping on the streets, on London Underground trains or on his friends’ sofas. In fact, he admits to sleeping outside Buckingham Palace for a couple of nights. This is where he gained inspiration for his song, Homeless.
- His teenage years were tough. He grew up with a perforated eardrum, a squint, a stutter and a port-wine birthmark (later lasered off) around one eye.
- He grew up in an arty household; His dad John is an art historian, his mum Imogen designs jewellery and his brother Matthew is a classical composer.
- You have Jamie Foxx to thank for Ed Sheeran’s music! In 2009 Ed played more than 300 live shows and gigs. It was 2010 when he was spotted at The Foxxhole by Jamie Foxx. The actor was so impressed that he offered Ed the use of his recording studio in L A and even his bed at his Hollywood home.
- He has an annoying habit of using mathematical symbols for his album titles, driving copy editors crazy.
- His body is a Memento of his career. Almost all of Sheeran’s many tattoos have some link to his career thus far. It’s been said that Ed has between 60 to 100 tattoos inked on his body. They include a ketchup bottle, a cup of tea, Pingu (the penguin), Puss in Boots, the phrase ‘Festina Lente’, a family tree, and a section of Van Gogh’s ‘Starry Night’.
- He names his guitars – Lloyd, Felix, Cyril, Trevor, Keith, Nigel and James The Second.
- He appeared on Game Of Thrones and his next TV appearance reportedly will be a guest spot on The Simpsons. Ed has acted in The Bastard Executioner on FX and in Bridget Jones’s Bab. He’s been in two sitcoms: New Zealand comedy Shortland Street, US sitcom Undateable and Aussie soap Home And Away.
- In 2014, Sheeran created a Twitter account for his kitten, Graham, who notched up 71,000 followers almost overnight.
- He has a record for getting involved in charity work and is philanthropist.
- Apart from English which clearly is the first language of this famous Englishman, Ed Sheeran can speak a bit of German, French and a bit of Greek.
- His songs are inspired by true life events. For instance, “Small Bump” was a song that he wrote about his friend’s losing of an unborn child while ‘A Team’ was the story of a drug addicted homeless woman he met at a shelter while Don’t was about how Ellie Goulding cheated on him with One Direction singer Niall Horan.
- He dines with the stars from Van Morrison to Eric Clapton to Elton John to Courtney Cox.
- Drum ’n’ bass icon Goldie is his financial advisor.
- He once received a hair cake from a fan and a Barbie doll from his brother on his birthday.
- He has a plan to escape World War III gaining New Zealand citizenship.
- He has colours for all of his songs.
- He almost changed his name to Redward.
- He doesn’t answer ‘unknown number’ phone calls. It’s because he received “quite a few death threats” when he first made waves in 2011.
- He’s anti smartphone.
- Here’s a fact about Ed Sheeran some of us can relate to – he isn’t worried about what people think of him or his body.
- He was born to soundtrack The Hobbit.
- Nando’s created a special ‘Ed’s Peri-Peri Sauce’.
- For his 26th birthday, Pizza Express created the Ed-Abrese, a birthday pizza ‘cake’ made from Calabrese ingredients.
- When he occasionally drops the rap from The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air into his songs onstage, it’s just a hint of his obsession with Will Smith’s ‘90s show he’s even had a tattoo in honour of it.
- After every media appearance, Sheeran leaps online to check how the publicity has affected his sales.
- A video of a teenage Sheeran proves that he can stuff a grand total of 40 Maltesers in his mouth before gagging and also dance brilliantly to Grease.
- We’re pretty sure he is the most romantic guy in the world. Apparently, the craziest thing he’s ever done to show a girl he loves her was fly halfway across the world to spend an afternoon with her. Some beautiful celebrities Ed Sheeran has been known to be romantically affiliated with include Ellie Goulding, Athina Andrelos, Barbara Palvin and Cherry Seaborn. If these women are anything to judge by, one thing is sure. Ed Sheeran definitely has a thing for beautiful women.
- He wrote a song at a funeral A fire Love from ‘x’ at his Irish Catholic grandfather funeral.
- He takes his fans’ advice on board. Before releasing his second album, x, Ed admitted to removing all the explicit lyrics after a taxi driver convinced him to.
- Before he named his record label Gingerbread, Sheeran had dressed as the Gingerbread Man from Shrek on Halloween in 2013.
- You’ll be aware of his writing credits for One Direction and Taylor Swift, but Sheeran has also penned songs for The Weeknd, Jessie Ware, Rudimental, Usher, Justin Bieber, Major Lazer, Hillary Duff, Robbie Williams, Olly Murs.
- He was GQ’s Worst Dressed Man in 2013.