ED SHEERAN

BASIC FACTS

• Full Name: Edward Christopher Sheeran
• Fans call him "Ginger Jesus"
• He was born on February 17, 1991 in Halifax, England (He is 24)
• He is British

CHILDHOOD & STARDOM

• Showed promise for playing the guitar
• At 11, he met Damian Rice who told him to write his own songs
• At 14, he left home for London with his guitar & a backpack full of clothes
• 2010, career jumped to the next level via social media
• Got the attention of Example, rapper, through YouTube, he asked Sheeran to join him on tour as an opening act
• He got even more attention co-writing songs for Taylor Swift and One Direction.

MUSIC GENRE

• His music is a blend of acoustic pop, folk, & hip-hop
• Acoustic Pop: popular-trendy music that uses instruments that produce sound through acoustic means
• Folk: Not necessarily acoustic but generally the song tells a story & helps us learn something from it
• Hip-Hop: Stylized rhythmic music that accompanies rapping
• I consider John Mayer his American equivalent.

AWARDS

• Brit Awards: British Breakthrough Act (2012), British Male Solo Artist (2012)
• Best Male Solo Artist (2015), Album Of The Year (2015)
• He has been nominated for 6 Grammys.

SONGS

• The A Team
• Thinking Out Loud
• Lego House

THE A TEAM

• Released June 12, 2011
• The song is about a homeless prostitute and her addiction to crack cocaine, a "Class A" drug
• The idea for the song came from a gig he did at a homeless shelter and an experience he had with a woman there
• You can tell this song is by Sheeran because of his distinctive voice, the way he plays guitar, and the way he tells the story.

WORKS CITED

• Biography.com
• Songfacts.com
• Folkmusic.about.com
• Allmusic.com