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Ed Sheeran: From Sleeping Rough To Becoming A Multi-Millionaire

Ed Sheeran: From Sleeping Rough To Becoming A Multi-Millionaire

Happy birthday, Ed.

Mel Ramsay

Mel Ramsay

In just a few years, Ed Sheeran has gone from sleeping on the streets to becoming a global phenomenon. It just goes to show how talent can transform someone's life.

As a teenager, the singer-songwriter was struggling to make his mark in the music industry and even slept rough under an arch next to Buckingham Palace. A few years down the line, he found himself under a completely different arch, The Wembley Arch, where he performed in front of 80,000 adoring fans.

He has made a point of saying that he wasn't actually homeless, he 'just didn't have a place to stay for a while'. Which to me is effectively the same thing. It's called the 'hidden homeless'. Millions of young people come under this umbrella term.

Yeah, I get it. When you think of homelessness, you probably picture people shivering in doorways, using heroin and asking people for spare change. However, homelessness is much more than that.

There are loads of people who sleep on the floors of their friends' houses, hostels, squatting, sometimes sleeping on the streets, but generally hiding away. Out of sight, out of mind. Right?

Whether it's sofa-surfing or living in university halls with nowhere to go at Christmas and Easter, youth homelessness is a major problem in the United Kingdom.


Sheeran visiting a sick girl in hospital.

He explained: "There was an arch outside Buckingham Palace that has a heating duct and I spent a couple of nights there. That's where I wrote the song 'Homeless' and the lines 'It's not a homeless night for me, I'm just home less than I'd like to be'."

At the age of 16, Ed moved from Suffolk to London in 2007 to study music. But when the course ended, he no longer had a grant to pay for the rent and had to make a living from busking, selling CDs from his rucksack.
For two and a half years, the singer, oblivious to the meteoric success that was just around the corner, slept on London Underground trains or on the floor in friends' homes. He added: "I knew where I could get a bed at a certain time of night and I knew who I could call at any time to get a floor to sleep on. Being sociable helped. Drinking helped."

It was in 2011 that his hard work paid off when he was signed to Asylum Records. The rest, as they say, is history.

The chart-topping singer's debut album, +, was certified 6× Platinum in the UK, but that was just the beginning of his success. In 2012, following an appearance with Taylor Swift, the world became aware of Sheeran's talents and slowly but surely he became a worldwide star.


Credit: PA Images

According to the Mirror, in 2015 he made £11 million in pre-tax profits. The figures, provided by accounts sent to Companies House, show that he'd doubled his profit since 2014 when he made £5.3 million.

He added: "I've not upgraded because I don't spend much money. If I had all my money in one account I would spend all of it, so I get an allowance. Maybe a grand. I spend most of it on taxis!"

Not bad for a guy who slept rough outside of Buckingham Palace, is it?
Featured Image Credit: PA Images

Topics: Sheeran, Music, Ed Sheeran