Not only is he one of the biggest-selling artists of all time, but Ed is one of the most generous to boot.
He’s kind to his fans and he helped set up one of his mates financially for life when she popped round his house to ask if he would include one of their songs on a special edition of his album, which he did.
While she was there, they wrote Thinking Out Loud together, which won a Grammy and which has been streamed more than 500 million times since.
''(Ed) speaks to her and hears her favourite song is Little Bird, and he plays the full song.'' - Aiden Priestly
Ed has shown incredible acts of kindness over the years. In 2014, he comforted 15-year-old Triona Priestly, from Dublin in Ireland, during her final moments before she passed away after losing her battle with cystic fibrosis.
Triona's brother Aiden recalled the heartbreaking story of how Ed called Triona during her last minutes of life to sing her favourite song of his, Little Bird.
''My brother left the room. He returned and said, 'I’m just going to put you on loudspeaker,' and he clicks it, then Ed Sheeran comes on, saying, 'Hi Triona. I hear you’re a big fan'.
''(Ed) speaks to her and hears her favourite song is Little Bird, and he plays the full song – plays all the way through and then some more.
''Then we hang up on him – probably a bit rude at the time – the doctor lifts the stethoscope to tell us her heart had stopped. And we take the mask off because she’d been on a machine to breathe – and in that moment, I remember, a burst of light comes from the window and she smiled.''
During 2020, he’s focused on his Suffolk neighbourhood, doling out over one million pounds to local charities including an Ipswich hospital children’s ward.
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