скачать книгу бесплатно
Ed Sheeran
Sean Smith
Ed Sheeran is a true inspiration. His moving and uplifting songs forge a lasting connection with the millions of people around the world who love him and his music.He was the thirteen-year-old guitarist in a school rock band when he decided to become a singer-songwriter, even though he could barely hold a tune and had never written a song. Within a year, he had recorded an album in his bedroom.Bestselling biographer Sean Smith traces the astonishing journey of the shy little boy with a stammer who, avoiding flashy showmanship, grew up to be a global phenomenon.Through compelling new research and interviews, he tells the story of Ed’s remarkable mum and dad who gave their son the courage to pursue his dream, the friends and mentors who encouraged him and the lovers who inspired his most famous songs.Smith describes the setbacks Ed faced before his fortunes were transformed by Elton John’s management company, a record deal and a song that changed everything – with a little help from Taylor Swift.Ed found it difficult to cope with the world at his feet, but a new relationship with a girl from his home town has brought him happiness and a fresh purpose in life.Now he is the most successful solo star on the planet, earning £83 million last year. Yet in the middle of his record-breaking 2018 UK tour, he played for just 400 people at a charity night to raise money for the homeless.As this captivating book reveals, there’s no one quite like Ed.
(#u452e54e2-99fa-54bc-b0eb-87bc72adff36)
Copyright (#u452e54e2-99fa-54bc-b0eb-87bc72adff36)
HarperCollinsPublishers
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
www.harpercollins.co.uk (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk)
First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2018
FIRST EDITION
Text © Sean Smith 2018
Jacket design by Claire Ward © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Jacket photograph © Jesse Dittmar/Redux/eyevine
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Sean Smith asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
While every effort has been made to trace the owners of copyright material reproduced herein and secure permissions, the publishers would like to apologise for any omissions and will be pleased to incorporate missing acknowledgements in any future edition of this book.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Find out about HarperCollins and the environment at
www.harpercollins.co.uk/green (http://www.harpercollins.co.uk/green)
Source ISBN: 9780008267513
Ebook Edition © November 2018 ISBN: 9780008267551
Version: 2018-11-05
Also by Sean Smith (#u452e54e2-99fa-54bc-b0eb-87bc72adff36)
George
Adele
Kim
Tom Jones: The Life
Kylie
Gary
Alesha
Tulisa
Kate
Robbie
Cheryl
Victoria
Justin: The Biography
Britney: The Biography
J.K. Rowling: A Biography
Jennifer: The Unauthorized Biography
Royal Racing
The Union Game
Sophie’s Kiss (with Garth Gibbs)
Stone Me! (with Dale Lawrence)
Dedication (#u452e54e2-99fa-54bc-b0eb-87bc72adff36)
For Hilaria
Contents
Cover (#u9a9ceaff-6e45-51df-af17-de91fb7d3ddd)
Title Page (#ud4489e41-0d4c-5499-ae35-93cbccf95367)
Copyright (#u4c67db6d-17bf-54b1-9018-dc3e08bd37ee)
Also by Sean Smith (#ua7fc578d-9e23-572b-aebc-36b32b5cbf60)
Dedication (#u92763db4-dadb-576d-a45b-c580ab6235bc)
Introduction: Principality Stadium, Cardiff, 24 June 2018 (#udd7328cb-5d42-573e-a10f-e20de5a2266d)
PART ONE: FAMILY IS ALL (#u5f715c64-6f54-5658-92ac-460a69c820e0)
1 Painting the Picture (#u9852304e-161e-5f43-8962-46c630294a28)
2 Pugilism not Vandalism (#uf832857e-a3f6-54ab-b802-31ffaf1a292f)
3 The Eminem Remedy (#u697d552d-3221-57c9-a8b7-bde371b51aa5)
4 Spinning Man (#u2dc85790-f23c-5ad3-ac90-ccf80b10b220)
5 The Loopmeister (#u8ae111ea-3eb6-573c-a551-fbb7a5136cd4)
6 Want Some Nizlopi (#uacda7a46-d520-5a79-bd05-e49c4155a2ca)
7 Ed Stage Left (#u6e3550b3-9c4f-5c3f-aec0-ba3f47795ce6)
8 Access All Areas (#u313012ea-2f95-58d5-8732-e6a62c9a30c2)
PART TWO: THE NEXT BIG THING (#u1680d226-8d20-5c33-8079-6b71f5efa029)
9 Singer–Songwriter (#uc06c50b7-343e-5186-8154-d0b731e424de)
10 In the City (#u1bb9c590-96bd-5e2d-bd05-b34b43b00709)
11 Loose Change (#u1a437bde-9633-5dbe-9fd4-38dcad2b7baa)
12 A Fine Example (#u52e91896-6778-558d-9cbb-d501021e7493)
13 A Big Deal (#ud491cada-4837-5481-b618-cc09bdf3e481)
14 Wayfaring (#u3968a296-d63f-5708-914a-7aaa00749b41)
15 Precious Moments (#u948467d0-0c2e-561a-a41e-a4224d443be1)
PART THREE: THE SHAPE OF THINGS (#ub3fa1829-b4fb-5169-ac3d-f9e0d8e4eea4)
16 On Patrol (#u140b6b92-00a8-5481-8446-e2ea8a4dfe99)
17 Moving Swiftly On (#uca65a209-bef2-5edf-a3ee-f9c7ed8f88d0)
18 The Universal Shush (#u4e02a63c-9cc7-54e3-ad24-5cf04ef218f2)
19 Thinking Out Loud (#u6a53c066-a32f-52f2-833a-799403403c06)
20 Home and Away (#u85a3d3c1-b2b8-54e0-9816-f19aa0a0956b)
21 Perfect Symphony (#ub16d41e7-1257-5618-8314-f8ff640ed1e1)
Last Thoughts (#u19063663-0108-5379-98ca-079659f28a1d)
Ed’s Stars (#ud406f66c-ffcb-5a96-b878-a4794009a011)
Life and Times (#ufeb06bcb-68d7-569e-963d-60de239dae9a)
Acknowledgements (#ud0618b12-a4fd-53e4-ba4f-d3d1cb630263)
Select Bibliography (#uc91f99cf-3949-5ef2-9b3d-354de03b3d42)
List of Searchable Terms (#u23a05c2f-2c1b-510a-b480-06aa2a140f86)
Picture Section (#uaa6e494a-f450-5ea4-b89b-5ea9a93ee5a6)
About the Publisher (#u33051836-3bca-59ce-9bc4-c221f044172a)
INTRODUCTION
Principality Stadium, Cardiff, 24 June 2018 (#u452e54e2-99fa-54bc-b0eb-87bc72adff36)
He’s on time. There’s no messing about with Ed. He doesn’t need to build up the excitement artificially by being late onstage. Instead, at 8.45 p.m. precisely, the lights go down and the video screens show him making his way casually down a corridor towards the stage as if he’s strolling to the pub for a pint. The only giveaway that this is an extraordinary event is the deafening roar from 60,000 people.
And there’s the man himself. The pedals of his famous loop station are at his feet and a small guitar bearing the logo of his latest album ÷ (Divide) is in his hands. He cuts a solitary figure. If you didn’t know he was the biggest pop star in the world in 2018, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was the warm-up act who couldn’t afford a proper band.
Standing a couple of rows in front of me, a young girl has the symbol ÷ etched in glitter on her cheek. I’m surrounded by people wearing official T-shirts with the logo on the front and the cities he’s playing on the back. This will please Ed, who has always been switched on regarding the promotional and financial importance of official merchandise. As a schoolboy, he would try to flog a few of his self-financed CDs to his audience, even if it was just half a dozen people in a social club.
The first chords of ‘Castle on the Hill’ are all anybody needs to get up and dance. Ed Sheeran is only one man but he seems to create an enormous power and charisma. There’s nobody else quite like him. Not everyone was brought up in a small town with a view of a magnificent castle, but we can all identify with thoughts and feelings about home. There’s something reassuring about making your way back, perhaps at Christmas or just to see Mum and Dad or old friends who haven’t moved on.
While he’s getting his breath back, Ed announces, ‘Good evening, Cardiff! Howya doing?’, which is not especially original but meets with a very positive response. Ed’s very relaxed between songs. The night before, he had left the stage twice to go for a pee.
He didn’t need to do that tonight. Instead, he tells us this is the biggest tour that has ever come to Wales. More than 240,000 people have swarmed into the stadium to see him during the last four nights. Apparently, Friday night was the largest single audience, although, to loud cheers, Ed suggests that tonight’s crowd is even bigger.
It’s the last night of the UK leg of his 2018 world tour. I wonder idly if I’m the millionth person to see him since he played the Etihad Stadium in Manchester last month. It’s not just a million teenage girls either. This is truly a family event with mums and dads, nans, grandads and children under ten all eager to enjoy themselves.
I’m next to a young couple from Barry Island who have brought their seven-year-old son Theo with them. ‘Who’s the fan?’ I ask. They chorus that they all are, although Dad told me he usually preferred Iron Maiden and Def Leppard.
He would have enjoyed the start of ‘Eraser’, the opening track on the ÷ album that begins with a wall of sound, courtesy of the loop station. It’s the first number of the night to feature some trademark rapping. In Ed’s hands, rapping seems to be more poetic than aggressive. He has made the genre acceptable to millions who might not have appreciated it before.
He launches into ‘The A Team’, the song he wrote ten years ago that changed everything for him. ‘If you know the words, then sing along,’ he says. It seems as if 60,000 people do. ‘There’s no such thing as “Can’t sing”,’ he tells us, ‘only “Can’t sing in tune”.’ That is certainly the case of practically everyone near me, but nobody cares.
Cleverly, he merges ‘Don’t’ from his second album, × (Multiply), with ‘New Man’ from ÷, both harsh and slightly bitter break-up songs. Between numbers, Ed may not have the distinctive patter of Adele but he chats in a relaxed fashion that appears perfectly natural and friendly, not at all scripted.
Apparently, he last played in Cardiff in 2011 and vowed then that he wouldn’t come back until he could fill this great stadium. That ambition didn’t take long to achieve.
He asks for our biggest scream before changing pace to ‘Dive’ perhaps the most underrated song on ÷. It’s a romantic ballad but not a soppy one. ‘Don’t call me baby/unless you mean it’ is a chorus to sing at the top of your voice in the shower.
As each song passes, I’m more and more struck by how everyone knows the words. I suppose it’s an indication of the sheer scale of his popularity. Ed’s strategy is that it’s a participation show and he wants everyone to sing and dance, although he reminds us that he can’t dance – even if the famous video to ‘Thinking Out Loud’ gives the impression that he’s a natural.
