WHO IS ED SHEERAN ?
You may not know him, but celebs & millions on Twitter sing his praises
He spent the last few months touring with Taylor Swift, hanging out with Courteney Cox, Jennifer Aniston and One Direction’s Harry Styles — and he even sold out Madison Square Garden three times. But Ed Sheeran remains the biggest star you’ve never heard of. “He has a cult following, but he’s not a household name yet,” says Idolator senior editor Sam Lansky. “His fans are as passionate as Justin Bieber’s or One Direction’s, but he hasn’t broken through to the mainstream.”
Just wait. Powered by a tween girl fan base — and 8 million Twitter followers (that’s his page below) — the 22-year-old redheaded Brit with the face for radio is already breaking the pop star mold.
“It’s important to always be yourself because no one can do you better than you,” Sheeran tells The News. “So the way to stay unique is just embrace all the odd quirks you have.”
What makes Sheeran worthy of the attention is that he genuinely doesn’t seem to care about the attention.
“He’s not as focused on cultivating a manicured image and cult of celebrity,” says Lansky.
Whether he’s focused on fame or not, Sheeran has become friends with his famous “Friends.” After spending Thanksgiving with Aniston, the A-lister’s manager Aleen Keshishian posted a photo of Aniston and Sheeran together with the note, “Happy thanks giving #jenniferaniston @
He’s a fantastic songwriter, extremely hard worker and puts on a second-tonone live show
aleenkeshishian #edsheeran.”
Last month, Sheeran posted his own photo of himself getting a big hug from Cox, encouraging his followers to vote for her in next year’s People’s Choice Awards.
“She’s never won one before and she lets me live in her beach house, so how’s about we all vote for her and win the damn thing,
eh?” Sheeran wrote, revealing his mascot status:
he sleeps in his “Cougar Town” pal’s
pad. Professionally, Sheeran is best known for his first American hit single, “The A Team”
off his lone solo release, the 2011 LP “+”.
Befitting Sheeran’s anti-pop approach, the song is not about romantic crushes and par
tying, but a crack-addicted prostitute. “Burnt lungs, sour taste/Struggling
to pay rent/Long nights, strangemen,”
he sings — lyrics not likely to appear on any track
by One Direction, even the ones that Sheeran writes for his boyband pals.
“The A Team” ran up the charts to 16 on Billboard Hot 100— an auspicious debut for a virtual unknown. An unknown beyond the music
world’s A team, that is. It’s almost too perfect that this rags- toriches story started at an open mic night at Jamie Foxx’ L.A. lounge, the Foxxhole.
Like everyone else who meets Sheeran, Foxx was so enamored of the carrot top that he let the teenager use his own recording studio and stay in his Hollywood home.
Sheeran eventually caught the ear of Atlantic Records, who signed him in 2011. From there, he began writing songs forOne Direction, including the chart-toppers “Moments” from the boyband’s debut album, and “Little Things” on their second album.
“Sheeran does have a lovely, velvety voice, ”says Lansky. “But good voices tend to be a dime a dozen; he’s definitely more gifted as a song writer than he is as a singer.”
After befriending Swift through his music partner and new BFF Styles, Sheeran opened for Swift on her monthslong “Red” tour. Her current hit, “Everything Has Changed,” prominently features Sheeran — and thanks to his legion of fans has now been viewed over 50million times on You Tube.
“He’s a fantastic song writer, extremely hard worker and puts on a second-tonone live show,” says Gregg Nadel, senior vice president of A&R and marketing for Atlantic. “For Ed, he’s out there with his guitar, on stage alone, and that’s really unique.”
Now he’s crossing over into film, thanks to his first new song in two years,“I See Fire,” which will play over the closing credits of the new Hobbit film, “The Desolation of Smaug.”
Clearly, thewords “unknown” and “Ed Sheeran” are about to become detached.