December 28, 2012 http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2012/12/21/on‐the‐verge‐year‐end‐in‐music/1783213/

On the Verge: Who were our 2012 success stories? Korina Lopez, USA TODAY 9:44a.m. EST December 28, 2012

USA TODAY saw potential in 1D, Gotye, fun., Kendrick Lamar, Ed Sheeran and The Lumineers.

USA TODAY's weekly On the Verge writers Brian Mansfield and Korina Lopez aim to predict which artists and bands will break into the mainstream. Sometimes they're right; sometimes they're wrong. But focusing on the positive, here's a look back at 2012's most impressive success stories, all profiled in On the Verge.

Ed Sheeran

His success story isn't exactly the kind that parents want their kids to know. When he was 16, the British singer dropped out of school and played anywhere he could, traveling the U.K. with just his backpack and guitar. In 2009 alone, he played 300 gigs.

Luckily for his fans, and the royal family, Sheeran's ambition has made him a star. "I hear that one of the royal grandkids is a fan of mine," he told USA TODAY. That connection landed him a gig to play alongside Elton John, Jay‐Z and Stevie Wonder at Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee this year. With two Brit Awards to his name and his album, + , a platinum hit in the U.K., the red‐haired artist has his sights set on something else. "My goal for 2012 is to make it in America," he says. And that he has: Single The A Team is No.. 12 on USA TODAY's top 40 airplay chart and No. 10 on the Hot AC chart. He co‐wrote and recorded Taylor Swift's Everything Has Changed and will guest on her Red tour, starting in March.

February 12, 2013 http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20672989,00.html

Ed Sheeran: Five Things to Know By JESSICA HERNDON 02/12/2013 at 03:50 PM EST

Elton John doesn't perform with just anyone. So when he took the stage at Sunday night's Grammys with folkie Brit Ed Sheeran to duet on the newcomer's Grammy nominated hit "The A Team," it was a moment to remember.

Here are five things to know about the 21‐year‐old folk singer, whose debut, +, has sold over two million copies worldwide.

1. He's penned tracks for both Taylor Swift and One Direction Sheeran cowrote "Everything Has Changed," off of Taylor Swift's latest album Red. "It was fate," he says of how he and Swift, 23, connected. The two musicians, who were fans of each other's work, "just started hanging out," says Sheeran. He also cowrote One Direction's hit "Little Things." Who's his favorite 1D member? Harry Styles, who was his pal prior to the boy band hitting it big.

2. He digs his red hair "It makes me individual and makes me stand out," he says. "It would be foolish to change it." And he's in good company with fellow musicians like Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine also sporting red tresses. "There are more redheads in pop than you think!"

3. He has a big crush on another (occasional) redhead Though he jokes about wishing he could have taken Eva Longoria as his date to the Grammys, Sheeran says he really holds a candle for actress Emma Stone. "But she's all kinds of taken now so I need to find someone else," he chuckles. Could he find love with pal Swift? "I don't know if I'm her type," he says of the singer he's opening for on her upcoming Red Tour.

4. He can deliver one heck of a rhyme Influenced by Eminem, the guitar player swiftly raps "Like everything I say seems to always sound awkward/Like our last kiss it was perfect, we were nervous/On the surface" on his tune "U.N.I." "I was brought up on Bob Dylan and Van Morrison," he says. "Nowadays I listen to [rapper] Kendrick Lamar."

5. He's a loyal customer There's one dish he can't wait to sit down and devour whenever he travels back to England. "The Portuguese chicken at a restaurant called Nando's," says Sheeran. "That's the sh‐‐!"

FEBRUARY 4, 2013

Ed Sheeran & '+': Singer Drops Album & Talks Working With Swift, One Direction

By MESFIN FEKADU --- 08/28/12 --- 10:00 AM ET

NEW YORK -- Ed Sheeran never wanted to be in a boy band, but when he wrote a song called "Moments" when he was 15, he knew it would someday be a perfect song for a male group.

Luckily for Sheeran, his friends – the English pop quintet One Direction – needed a song, and asked the breakthrough singer to send something their way.

"It was always a song that I always intended for a boy band. I was like, `This is my boy band song, but I'm never going to sing it,'" Sheeran, now 21, recalled. "I just held on to it for a long period of time."

"Moments," a pop ballad, made its way to One Direction's platinum-selling debut album, "Up All Night," released in March, as a bonus track.

He's teaming up again with One Direction for the group's sophomore album, and recently wrote and recorded songs with Taylor Swift for her upcoming fourth album, "Red." He was tight- lipped about the collaboration, but said the experience was a "breath of fresh air" because of Swift's colossal success.

"As a person, Taylor's such a sweetheart," he said in a recent interview. "(She's) the perfect example of what musicians should be and how they should work and react. She just loves music and she's not in it for anything else."

English-born Sheeran says he has over 100 tracks dedicated to other acts. But he isn't just providing tunes for others; he's busy promoting his own songs.

His debut album, "+," has sold more than 1 million units in the United Kingdom since its release last September. It was released in the United States in June, where it debuted at No. 5 on Billboard's Top 200 albums chart.

He describes his sound as a mix of "folk, acoustic, hip-hop, soul, everything." His influences range from Damien Rice to James Morrison to Jay-Z. "I started rapping probably before I started singing," said Sheeran, who will kick off the "VH1 You Oughta Know Tour With Ed Sheeran" on Sept. 8 in Orlando, Fla. "I was really into Eminem when ... `The Slim Shady LP' came out. ... I wasn't allowed to have it `cause he swears a lot."

Sheeran performed during the closing ceremony at the Olympics and was one of the acts to take the stage at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert in June.

When he was shopping for a record deal, the red-haired singer said he was told to switch his style to sound like James Blunt, who had just topped the charts with the smash "You're Beautiful."

"They didn't want to hear songs about homeless prostitutes," Sheeran said, referring to his debut single and Top 5 U.K. hit, "The A Team."

"To have that (success) on a song that I was told wouldn't even be played on radio, it's quite nuts," he added.

His tour wraps Oct. 6 in Seattle

Ed Sheeran on Duet With Taylor Swift, Advice From Elton John

'She's a very warm soul,' English singer says of Swift

By Patrick Doyle August 17, 2012 3:25 PM ET

English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran played for 31 million viewers earlier this week when he sang Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" at the London Olympics Closing Ceremony, backed by Nick Mason and Mike Rutherford. "I'm never going to get to do something like that again in my life, so I just savored every moment of it," he tells Rolling Stone. Now, Sheeran is about to get even more exposure: he recently recorded a duet with Taylor Swift for her upcoming album Red, which hits stores on October 22nd. Sheeran, 21, learned Swift was a fan after she wore lyrics from his song "Lego House" on her arms during her Speak Now tour. Soon, Swift's management visited one of Sheeran's gigs in Nashville. "Two days later, I got an email saying she had been a fan for awhile and ‘Should we write a song?' So we hooked up and wrote two tunes, actually, one on the record and another that's still out in the ether somewhere."

The writing session took place at Swift's home. "We wrote a song on a trampoline, ate some apple pie and had a jam. It was very fun," he says. "It came in 20 minutes, really. It was a really simple song to write. We just had two guitars and strummed it out. I've heard from everyone in the industry how cool she is; she's got a very good reputation, but you never really realize what kind of person she is until you sit down and chat with her. She's just a very warm soul."

Sheeran has another new friend in Elton John: both played the Queen's Diamond Jubilee concert earlier this summer. "'Indian Sunset' is a fucking amazing piece of music," Sheeran says of his favorite Elton track. "He's the best person for advice for me. There have been a couple of things recently where I've needed more wise industry knowledge and I can give him a call. The best advice he's given me: probably to release a single in between 'The A Team' and 'Lego House.' He was like, ‘A Team' is the one that kind of breaks you onto the scene and ‘Lego House' breaks you onto the mainstream commercial scene, but you need a bridge in between both, otherwise people would just think that I did ballads. So I released 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You' in between, [and] it seemed to work out well."

In September, Sheeran will hit the U.S. on the VH1 You Oughta Know Tour With Ed Sheeran. He plans to stay on the road through November 2013, including a bigger U.S. tour in January. "It's nice to really have to tour my ass off for things to work," he says. But he's already thinking about new material. "I've got about 20 tunes," he says. "It's going to be a similar direction to the last record. Obviously I'm growing up, so it might be a little bit more mature."

The 50 Best Albums of 2012 (So Far) BY COMPLEX MAGAZINE | JUN 25, 2012 | 1:31 PM 43. Ed Sheeran, +

Label: Elektra/Atlantic Released: June 12th

Ed Sheeran is a red-headed youth from a small town in England who plays the acoustic guitar like a folk singer and spits like a grime MC. (He decided to collaborate with Yelawolf on a recent mixtape because he dug the Alabama spitter's breakneck flows.) Back home in the UK Ed's a huge star thanks to edgy songs like "The A Team," "You Need Me, I Don't Need You," and "Drunk." He even got to meet the Queen after performing at her Jubilee celebration this June. Here in the U.S. Sheeran is not quite a household name, but his album debuted in the Top 10 and once folks catch his live show, world domination can't be far behind.

June/July 2012