Ed Sheeran
When: 28th March 2023
Location: Hampden
World renowned British superstar, Ed Sheeran returns to the UK in 2023. Coming to Glasgow’s OVO Hydro on 28th March 2023!
An era-defining artist, Ed Sheeran has not only racked up a slew of accolades and awards for his music, but also broken several records for his tours.
Born in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire, the ginger-haired musician grew up in Framlingham, Suffolk. He started out in music at the age of four, singing in the church choir. Sheeran learned to play guitar when he was 11 and soon after started writing songs. He self-released an EP called Spinning Man in 2004 when he was just 14. Two years later, he moved to London and by 2009 had performed more than 300 gigs. Sheeran also continued to release EPs independently, with five under his belt by the time he was 19 years old. Following his next EP, No.5 Collaborations Project, Sheeran was signed to Asylum Records.
2011
His hugely successful debut + (Plus) came out in 2011 and climbed to No.1 on the UK albums chart thanks to the success of lead singles The A Team, Lego House and You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.
Then Sheeran began winning fans all around the world as an opening act – first on Snow Patrol’s Fallen Empires Tour in 2012 and then on his close friend Taylor Swift’s The Red Tour in 2013. In between those tours, he performed at the closing ceremony for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
What’s more, Sheeran co-wrote and sang on the guitar ballad Everything Has Changed for Swift’s fourth album Red, which would go on to be the biggest selling album of 2012. In late 2013, he unveiled I See Fire, which was featured on the soundtrack and in the credits for the film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.
2014
Sheeran’s first No.1 single Sing, co-written and produced by Pharrell Williams, arrived 2014 ahead of the release of his sophomore album x (Multiply). Another massive success, it not only topped the UK albums chart and Billboard 200, but peaked at No.1 in 15 countries. In addition to Sing, the album boasted the chart-topping tracks Thinking Out Loud, Don’t, Photograph, Afire Love, I’m A Mess and Bloodsteam with Rudimental. At the 2014 Grammy Awards, Sheeran was nominated for Best New Artist.
To promote x, Sheeran headed out on the x World Tour, which ran from 2014 throughout 2015 with shows on five continents. In 2015, x was nominated for Album of the Year at the Grammys, while Sheeran took home BRIT Awards for British Male Solo Artist and British Album of the Year as well as an Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year. In 2015, Sheeran also performed in Kansas City as the opening act for The Rolling Stones on their Zip Code Tour.
After such a monumental year and meteoric rise to stardom, Sheeran went on a year-long hiatus in 2016 that included a social media break.
2017
When Sheeran’s third album ÷ (Divide) arrived in early 2017, all 16 tracks flooded the UK singles chart. Containing Castle On The Hill, Galway Girl, Shape Of You, Perfect, Happier, Dive, New Man, What Do I Know and many more, he holds the record as the artist with the most simultaneous entries in the UK’s official top 40.
In addition to embarking on a worldwide tour to support ÷, Sheeran played four shows at Wembley Stadium in 2018 and six huge homecoming shows in Leeds and Ipswich in 2019. When all was said and done, his Divide Tour encompassed 260 shows and set world records for the highest-grossing concert tour and the most tickets sold by a tour. Plus having played to over 1.1 million fans, Sheeran also lays claim to the biggest ever solo tour without a band.
In late 2019, he released his chart-topping collection of collaborations, called No.6 Collaborations Project. Among the guest-laden tracks are I Don’t Care with Justin Bieber, Cross Me with Chance The Rapper, Antisocial with Travis Scott, Take Me Back To London with Stormzy and South Of The Border with Camila Cabello and Cardi B.
Throughout the ’10s, Sheeran was awarded six BRITs, an MBE for his services to music and charity, four Ivor Novello Awards, four Grammys and seven Billboard Music Awards, among many others. The Official UK Charts Company also crowned him their Official No.1 Artist of the Decade 2010-2019.
2020
Sheeran took another 12-month break from music in 2020, after his wife Cherry Seaborn gave birth to their daughter Lyra.
In May 2021, Sheeran became the shirt sponsor of Ipswich Town Football Club, which he’s loved and supported since he was a child. The following month he released his first new music since the break, a song titled Bad Habits that went to No.1 on the UK singles chart and was accompanied by a video of him dressed as a vampire.
Sheeran played an intimate fan show at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire in early September to mark the 10-year anniversary of his debut album +. His fourth album = (Equals) was released in October 2021.
