What was the sweet-voiced singer’s first track?
Ed Sheeran self-released his first album—Spinning Man, when he was just 13 years old, which includes 14 tracks. It is thought that hi first song is ‘Typical Average’. He then released a five-track EP in 2009—You Need Me. His debut single was “The A Team,” released on June 12, 2011.
Read on to learn more about the early life of Ed Sheeran and how he made it as a successful musician.
The Birth of a Musical Legend
Edward Christopher Sheeran was born in Halifax, England on 17 February 1991. Ed’s early home was nearby in Hebden Bridge. Both of his parents worked in the art business, which is perhaps where he got his artistic passion.
The family relocated in late 1995 to Framlingham in Suffolk, which is about four hours south by car. He grew up there along with his older brother, Matthew, who also works in the music business, as a composer.
Ed started singing at church when he was 4, and aged 11, started learning the guitar. He went to Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham, which is when he first started writing songs.
In 2004, when Ed would have been around 13 years old, a teacher described him as a “natural performer.” Classmates voted him “most likely to be famous.”
Ed joined the National Youth Theatre as a teenager and Youth Music Theatre UK in 2007, for which he performed in their production of Frankenstein.
A Career in Music
Ed independently released Spinning Man in 2004.
You’ll be hard-pressed to get a copy of the album, however. Ed wrote in his book Ed Sheeran: A Visual Journey, that, “There are probably 20 copies of Spinning Man in existence, and I have 19 of them. I don’t want anyone else to get hold of a copy.”
However, in August of 2020, it was announced that a copy of the CD was being auctioned off—for £10,000.
A few (alleged) tracks from the album can be found on YouTube.
After finishing high school, the singer moved to London in 2008 and started performing at small venues.
He released the EP You Need Me in 2009. In 2010, Example asked Ed to open his upcoming tour, and the same month he released his acclaimed Loose Change EP, which included the future single “The A Team,” which eventually reached number 3 on the chart.
In 2010, Ed released another two EPs independently—Ed Sheeran: Live at the Bedford and Songs I Wrote With Amy, a collaboration with friend and singer Amy Wadge.
In 2011, Ed self-released yet another EP, titled No. 5 Collaborations Project, which featured grime artists Wiley, Jme, Devlin, Sway, Ghetts, and others. The album reached number 2 on the iTunes chart without the singer being signed to any label or doing any promotion.
Three months later, Sheeran put on a free show to fans at a small venue in Camden, London.
The venue could only hold 200 guests but over 1000 fans had shown up to support Sheeran. So that everyone got a chance to see him perform, he played three more shows in the subsequent days as well as performing on the street after the venue closed.
Soon after, due to his obvious popularity, Ed was signed to Asylum Records.
Ed released his debut studio album on 12 September 2011, + (pronounced “plus”). The album entered the UK chart at number 1 and reached number 5 on the US chart.
Since then, Ed has gone on to release several other successful albums and collaborated with dozens of huge artists. He’s estimated to have a net worth of around $160 million.