Ed Sheeran: Get to know more about the 'Azizam' singer

Ed Sheeran has released some of the biggest hits of the last decade. Since bursting onto the scene in 2011 with ‘The A Team’, Ed has delivered hit after hit, including ‘Shape of You’, ‘Castle on the Hill’, ‘Bad Habits’, ‘Thinking Out Loud’, ‘Azizam’ and the list KEEPS growing.

Over the past year, Ed has released his eighth album ‘Play’, along with several singles, and his One Shot Netflix experience, which was directed by Adolescence’s Emmy Winner Philip Barantini. Let's catch up on Ed’s journey, from his early busking days to global superstardom and everything in between.

Where is Ed Sheeran from?

Singer songwriter Ed Sheeran was born Edward Christopher Sheeran in Halifax, West Yorkshire. He moved to Framlingham, Suffolk at a very young age, and spent most of his childhood there - with his parents Imogen and John even auctioning off some of his childhood items to raise money for local charities in Suffolk.

When is his birthday?

Ed was born on 17th February 1991, making him currently 35-years-old.

How did he become famous?

Unsurprisingly, music runs in Ed's family - he has an older brother named Matthew, who works as a classical composer.

Ed’s future in music was clear from a very young age, and he began to sing in a local church choir from the age of four, also learning to play the guitar. He then began to write songs in high school.

In 2004, he started recording his music, independently releasing his first collection of work, 'Spinning Man'. By the following year, he released his EP 'The Orange Room'. In September 2024, Ed shared an EP full of some of his early songs called 'My Forgotten Favourites'. Read up on Ed Sheeran's full career timeline, which awards he's won through the years and how many albums he's released.

His first performance

Ed Sheeran's first ever performance was when he was 11-years-old at school. The singer revealed backstage at Hits Live Liverpool that his performance was meant to be a duo with his friend Dan playing the piano. Unfortunately, things didn't go to plan when they couldn't get the piano on stage, so it ended up being a solo performance with Ed.

Despite being nervous, Ed went ahead with the performance and when it was over, everyone said how good he was. The 'Beautiful People' singer went on to say: "I suddenly got this buzz of like, oh I could do something. So that was like my first time."

Is Ed releasing new music?

He dropped his much-anticipated eighth album 'Play' in September 2025, along with a number of singles. Way back in November 2023, Ed revealed he was 'knuckling down into album mode' and teased the theme for his next set of albums (remember the mathematical symbols?!). Fans were quick to speculate after Ed ended his post by saying: 'See you sometime next year when we press Play again on pop' — with many Sheerios believing the next five albums would be called play, pause, stop, fast forward and rewind!

Ed released several songs ahead of the album, including 'Azizam', 'Old Phone', 'Sapphire' and 'A Little More', which saw Rupert Grint reprise his role as an Ed Sheeran stalker in the music video.

He's since released 'Camera', which features Bridgerton actress Phoebe Dynevor in its music video. Ed said together they recreated a few key moments of his relationship with Cherry for the video.

As well as confirming his album would be called 'Play' and was set for release in September 2025, Ed confirmed what many fans had suspected about future albums' names to Hits Radio. He told them the albums would be called ‘Pause’, ‘Rewind’, ‘Fast Forward’, ‘Stop’.

Along with the standard version of 'Play', Ed has released a special edition for his Portman Road gigs.

How many albums has he released?

Ed has released a lot of albums, there are eight studio albums as well as two compilations and a lot of EPs.

Ed has released eight studio albums so far, they are: '+' (2011), '×' (2014), '÷' (2017), 'No. 6 Collaborations Project' (2019), '=' (2021), '−' (2023), 'Autumn Variations' (2023), and 'Play' (2025).

Compilation albums

• '5' (2015)
• '+−=÷× (Tour Collection)' (2024)

READ MORE: All the details about Ed Sheeran's albums so far

What songs has he written?

As well as writing his own hugely successful songs, Ed spread his musical wings and shared his gift for writing with a whole host of big names - and it's safe to say he's built himself quite the portfolio!

From One Direction's 'Little Things' in 2012, Ed has gone onto co-write songs such as Taylor Swift's 2013 track 'Everything Has Changed', Justin Bieber's 2015 release 'Love Yourself' as well as the late Liam Payne's 2017 hit 'Strip That Down'.

When Ed caught up with Hits Radio in 2025, he even revealed that he'd “sent a billion songs” to RiRi for her “new stuff” - teasing that he knows her next album will be worth the wait.

Read up on all the other songs you didn't know Ed Sheeran had written for other artists!

Is Ed Sheeran on tour?

Ed Sheeran completed his epic 'Mathematics' tour, which he started back in 2022, in the autumn of 2025. In July 2025, Ed announced a brand new tour for 2026 called 'LOOP', where he released dates for Australia and New Zealand across January, February and March – however there were no UK dates.

As if that wasn't enough, Ed also put on a number of arena shows across Europe to celebrate the release of 'Play'. In early December 2025, Ed played dates in Paris, Munich, Coventry, Manchester and Dublin.

Did Ed Sheeran perform at the Super Bowl Half-Time show?

Ed did not perform at the Super Bowl Half-Time show in 2026, instead Green Day and Bad Bunny performed, while in 2025, rapper Kendrick Lamar put on a memorable show. However, each year there are several rumours as to who might be taking to the stage. Take a look through all the Super Bowl Half-Time show rumours for 2027.

Ed at Coachella

In April 2025, Ed made his Coachella debut. Not only did he perform his own set in the Mojave tent, he also joined Post Malone to close his set, and brought a pop-up secret pub with him, where he brought out Shaboozey and Alex Warren to perform their Number 1 singles.

What football team does he support?

Ed is a sponsor of Ipswich Town football team and often shows his support there. In August 2024, just days before the 2024/2025 Premier League season kicked off, Ed announced he acquired a minority stake in Ipswich Town.

Ed bought a 1.4% stake in his beloved club and wrote on social media: 'Really excited to announce that I have bought a small percentage of my hometown football club @ipswichtown . It’s any football fans dream to be an owner in the club they support, and I feel so grateful for the opportunity.

'I’ve lived in Suffolk since I was 3, and although I have travelled the world and sometimes feel like an outsider in big cities, Suffolk and Ipswich have always made me feel part of a community and protected. It’s such a joy to be a fan of Ipswich town.

'There are ups and downs, but football is about taking the highs with the lows. I’m not a voting shareholder or a board member, this is just me putting some money into the club I love and them returning the gesture, so please don’t get onto me with signing suggestions or tactics lol. Excited for the Prem to start this weekend X'. (sic)

Ipswich chairman Mark Ashton said at the time: "The support Ed and his team have shown us over the last three years has been nothing short of remarkable and for him to make this investment feels like the natural progression in our relationship.

"For one of the biggest artists in the world to give us so much of his time and give the club such incredible exposure around the world, while asking for very little in return, highlights just what makes this relationship such a special one."

In June 2025, he performed at Ipswich FC's home ground for three gigs. Each gig featured different special guests, including the likes of James Blunt, Busted and Myles Smith.

What is the Ed Sheeran Foundation?

In January 2025, Ed Sheeran launched the Ed Sheeran Foundation. The singer explained in a lengthy caption why setting up the foundation was important to him: 'I set up @edsheeranfnd because recently there’s been less and less importance being put on music education.

'Even when I was in school it was seen as a ‘doss subject’ and not taken seriously. There’s a misconception that it’s ’not a real job’ - when the music industry accounts for 216,000 jobs in so many different fields, and bringing as much as £7.6 billion in a year to the UK economy. Not to mention the power our art has worldwide to bring joy to people.

'It’s something we should be proud of and championing in the UK, not sweeping under the rug and pretending we are just bankers (no offence to bankers obvz). It was incredible for my mental health as a kid, feeling a sense of purpose and achievement, even just learning piano or cello at a young age way before songwriting.

'I want kids to be able to learn instruments, learn production and songwriting, performing, and have apprenticeship schemes help them learn different skills to enter the industry. '

He continued: 'I employ 150 people on tour who all have different skill sets, there’s also labels, management, publishing, promoters. Music is such a key part of our society. The more I do travelling around and visiting schools and grass roots projects, the more I see there’s passion and inspiring people, who are being undervalued and underserved. I’m hoping this foundation is a start to giving them the support they need to keep going, and show them they are hugely important to us. More to follow, loads of love x'.

One Shot

In November 2025, Netflix released One Shot, a music experience filmed in one shot by Adolescence director Philip Barantini. The Netflix programme saw Ed walking through New York City as 'he delights pedestrians with impromptu performances of his greatest hits.' During the programme he joined a tour bus, visited a pub, performed at a birthday party and at wedding proposal on The High Line.

What is Tingly Ted's?

Tingly Ted's is Ed's very own hot sauce range! The singer launched his new range, named after his childhood nickname, in 2023, and also took part in a marketing campaign which featured Ted - a loveable, grumpy, giant bear.

Is Ed Sheeran married?

He sure is! You'd be forgiven for getting confused though... After dating childhood sweetheart Cherry Seaborn for a number of years, Ed Sheeran subtly announced they were engaged in a sweet Instagram post on 20th January 2018. He wrote: 'Got myself a fiancé just before new year. We are very happy and in love, and our cats are chuffed as well.' (sic)

In an interview in August 2018, Ed showed off a ring on his ring finger, but when asked when the wedding was, he wouldn't answer and simply pointed at the ring, seemingly indicating that they were already married. 👀

Reports then surfaced in February 2019 that Ed and Cherry had officially tied the knot just before Christmas 2018, with the ceremony apparently taking place at his country estate in Suffolk with only 40 people in attendance.

In July 2019, Ed confirmed he was married - while discussing the lyrics for his song with Eminem and 50 Cent, the singer went on to say: "Watch how the lyrics in the songs might get twisted. My wife wears red, but looks better without the lipstick.

"It was actually before me and Cherry got married, and I knew that we'd be married by the point that the song came out," Ed explained. "Someone's gonna hear that and be like, 'Oh, they're married!' I didn't know how that would be construed, but obviously it's already come out."

Ed Sheeran's children

Ed and his wife Cherry welcomed their first child in August 2020, with the singer making the surprising announcement in May 2022 that they had welcomed baby number two!

Announcing the birth of his first child, Ed took to Instagram to share the lovely news. The 'Perfect' singer simply shared an image of his baby's socks lying on a blanket, writing: 'Ello! A quick message from me as I have some personal news that I wanted to share with you...

'Last week, with the help of an amazing delivery team, Cherry gave birth to our beautiful and healthy daughter - Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran. We are completely in love with her. Both mum and baby are doing amazing and we are on cloud nine over here. We hope that you can respect our privacy at this time. Lots of love and I’ll see you when it’s time to come back, Ed x' (sic).

Two years later, Ed shared a post of a similar style, revealing that he and Cherry had welcomed their second baby girl! Sharing another image of some adorable socks lying on a blanket, the 'Bad Habits' singer wrote: 'Want to let you all know we’ve had another beautiful baby girl. We are both so in love with her, and over the moon to be a family of 4 x'.

Ed Sheeran's children's names

In Ed's Instagram post announcing the birth of his first daughter, he also revealed her name - Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran. Ed revealed the name of his second daughter in an interview with Rolling Stone, where he announced that she is called Jupiter Seaborn Sheeran.

It is thought that Ed's first born's unique name is a nod to one of the singer's favourite novel series, His Dark Materials, which follows the story of Lyra Belacqua. In the series, Lyra travels to the Arctic, which many fans have also linked to his baby's name. Lyra is also the name of a constellation for the lyre, a musical instrument.

Ed and Cherry's second daughter is named Jupiter, of course named after the planet. The name itself means 'god of the sky' or 'godfather' according to NameBerry.

Ed Sheeran and Jamal Edwards

Ed was a good friend of Jamal Edwards who passed away in 2022. Jamal was often credited with helping Ed on his rise to fame. In January 2023, Ed released a song as a tribute to his late friend.

The full video premiered on YouTube on 19th January 2023, and showed Ed in the centre of the pitch at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge, surrounded by a circle of candles.

WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE

Does he have a documentary?

On 3rd May 2023 the documentary Ed Sheeran: Sum of it All was released on Disney+ in four parts. It included never-before-seen personal footage, and showed Ed's inspiration behind some of his biggest hits.

Does he have tattoos?

He most certainly does - MANY, in fact! To name a few, Ed has a giant lion tattoo on his chest and the Sagrada Familia inked on his stomach, decorating his arms he has items such as three boxing gloves, a koala, the Heinz Tomato Ketchup logo, a cup of tea and some Lego.

All of Ed's tattoos hold a personal meaning to him, with many also relating to some of his songs.

He also has 'Everything that happens is from now on', a lyric from Bon Iver's song 'Re: Stacks', in the singer's handwriting, and has a teddy bear on his right arm to reference his nickname Teddy.

Ed got a tat of Henri Matisse's mother and child portrait on his arm as a tribute to his mum, explaining: "It was the first thing I bought with a pay cheque for my mum. I bought her a drawing of mother and child."

Social media

You can find Ed on Instagram, where his username is teddysphotos, and on X with the handle edsheeran. Ed is also on TikTok, where he has the username edsheeran.

You can hear Ed Sheeran on the Hits Radio playlist!

Now take a look at songs that Ed Sheeran has written for other artists:

Read more:

Ed Sheeran's career journey: From street busker to global superstar

Taylor Swift’s biggest collaborations: From Ed Sheeran to Shawn Mendes 🎶

Anne-Marie and Ed Sheeran's friendship through the years

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