Edward Christopher "Ed" Sheeran (born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Born in Hebden Bridge, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he moved to London in 2008 to pursue his music career on the Artist Development course at Access to Music. In early 2011, Sheeran released an independent extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project, which caught the attention of both Elton John and Jamie Foxx. He then signed to Asylum Records. His debut album, +, containing the singles "The A Team" and "Lego House", was certified 6× Platinum in the UK. In 2012, Sheeran won two Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act. "The A Team" won the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In 2014, he was nominated for Best New Artist at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.

Sheeran's popularity abroad began in 2012. In the US he made a guest appearance on Taylor Swift's fourth studio album, Red, and wrote songs for One Direction. "The A Team" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards and he performed the song in duet with Elton John during the ceremony. He spent much of 2013 touring North America as the opening act for Swift's The Red Tour. In autumn 2013, Sheeran performed three sold out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden as a headline act. His second studio album x (read as "multiply") was released worldwide on 23 June 2014, charting at number one in the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. In 2015, x won the Brit Award for British Album of the Year, and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. He received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year in 2015. As part of his x world tour, Sheeran played three sold out concerts at London's Wembley Stadium in July 2015, his biggest solo shows to date.