BUSK Hard-working stars
ED SHEERAN
HE was living a “millionaire lifestyle” until a few years ago but today the ex-husband of Game of Thrones star Lena Headey has turned to busking to make ends meet.
Hairdresser Peter Loughran enjoyed a life of luxury in LA with the actress, who plays evil Queen Cersei Lannister in the massive fantasy series hit.
The couple divorced in 2013 and Peter, who has an eightyear-old son with Lena, now lives in Leeds, and is reportedly having some money worries.
Undaunted, the Irishman is fighting back by bashing out some tunes to the delight of passers-by.
He was recently spotted in the city centre playing his guitar while crooning covers by the likes of James Blunt and Michael Buble, making £30.
Who knows where his new career could lead? Some of showbiz’s biggest stars have been in Peter’s position and gone on to earn riches beyond their dreams.
They include pop star Ed Sheeran, who began performing in public in Galway, Ireland, where he belted out hits from the tender age of 12.
Plight
Ed, 27, spent many a summer honing his craft while visiting relatives, with footage of him performing outside the Treasure Chest shop being used in his 2015 video for the song Photograph.
Although the megastar is now comfortable performing to tens of thousands of fans in sold-out arenas he still remains fond of buskers and sympathetic to their plight. He apologised to London street performer Charlotte Campbell last year after she complained of being locked out of Facebook for posting a clip of her covering his Castle on the Hill track.
Another famous busker is Steve Harley, the founding member of Cockney Rebel, who first went into newspapers after leav- ing school at 17. He got himself sacked because he “got tired of journalism” and turned to music, after he was given a guitar for Christmas when he was 11.
“I went straight on the dole but started busking, singing songs I’d been writing since I was about 18,” he said. “When I formed the first Cockney Rebel band, I’d already written the first two albums.”
Steve, now 67, admitted he wasn’t always the most successful performer. “I started busking in the early seventies, which gave me a platform to experiment on the public with my songs,” he recalled in an interview. “I had one called Sebastian, which was six minutes of gothic poetry! I got absolutely no money.”
Nevertheless, by just 22, Steve had gone from “barefoot in Piccadilly to limousines in Amsterdam”. Sebastian become hugely popular with fans and critics.
George Michael, who died two years ago aged 53, began his career busking on the London Underground, performing Queen songs to passers-by. The budding