Ed Sheeran has donated nearly £1 million to help fund young musicians learning to play, perform, and write music.
Ed Sheeran grew up in the area of Suffolk, England. As a youth, he grew with music. His older brother is the composer Matthew Sheeran, and he sang in the church choir before he could read. His school reports described him as a “natural performer,” and he learned to play guitar at 11. He released his first album, Spinning Man, at just 13.
From there, he became one of the world’s best-selling musical artists, with over 101 million sales in the USA alone, and two of his albums (x and +) are among the best-selling albums ever in the U.K.
Sheeran’s charity, the Framlingham Foundation Trust, received over £500k from the songwriter to begin the Ed Sheeran Suffolk Music Foundation (ESSMF) to help young Suffolk students fund instruments, concert and rehearsal spaces, and musical education.
“The reason I’m doing it in Suffolk is [because] it’s the area I grew up, I still live here and I learnt how to play music here and I feel like I’ve had a lot of support from the area and I feel like I wanna give some support back.”
Sheeran has previously helped teachers in the Suffolk area seek further education in teaching music, both conventionally and with methods geared towards students with special needs. The latest charitable donation brings his contribution to his home region up to nearly £1 million ($1.16 million).
Ed Sheeran and his crew were also in the news this week for helping police on the Suffolk coast search for a woman missing from her boat. Film crew members transported officers across the beaches at Lowestoft during the search, which was successful. Two days later, his 2017 hit “Shape of You” became the most-streamed song ever on Spotify.
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