Edward Christopher Sheeran, MBE (born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project. After signing with Asylum Records, his debut album, + (pronounced "plus"), was released in September 2011. It topped the UK and Australian charts, reached number five in the US, and has since been certified eight-times platinum in the UK.
The album contains the single "The A Team", which earned him the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In 2012, Sheeran won the Brit Awards for Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act. "The A Team" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John.
Ed Sheeran backs Music Venue Trust’s Own Our Venues campaign
completemusicupdate.comEd Sheeran has pledged his support to the Music Venue Trust’s Own Our Venues campaign, which sees the trade body raising money to buy the freeholds of various UK grassroots music venues in order to safeguard their respective futures.“Own Our Venues is an initiative I’m really passionate about getting behind”, says Sheeran. “Small, independent venues are so, so important to the music community, and I’ve played some of my favourite gigs of my career in these rooms.
We’ve got to do all we can to protect these beautiful venues that we’ve all come to love for years to come”.Launched in May, the campaign is attempting to raise £3.5 million to buy up nine music venues around the UK in an initial pilot.
The MVT says that currently 93% of British music venues rent their premises, and that this “underpins almost every other challenge” currently being faced by those businesses – including rising costs, licensing issues, and problems resulting from the gentrification of areas where grassroots venues are often based.Any venues purchased will be operated by Music Venue Properties – a charitable community benefit society set up by MVT, which is raising money by selling community shares through ethical investment specialists Ethex and a crowdfunding campaign.
Investors will receive a 3% APR return on their investments, it says.In addition to confirming Sheeran’s support, the MVT has also announced that the deadline to invest has been extended to the end of this year.“We have extended the deadline for investors to come on board through until 31 Dec 2022 to give everyone a chance to get behind this project and make it a reality”, says Matt Otridge, Ownership Coordinator for Music Venue Trust. “We have had an incredible response to this.
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