Ed Sheeran gushes over pals Jedward and admits he almost used a very similar stage

evoke.ie:

Ed Sheeran has revealed that during his early career he considered changing his stage name to Redward but ended up counting the lucky stars he didn’t make the switch after Irish twins Jedward burst onto the scene.

Redward was supposed to be in reference to Ed’s bright red hair and the idea came to him after he found his own name looked a bit strange when he saw it on posters.

The A-Team singer recalled: ‘When I was like 16, 17 or maybe it was 18, I considered changing it to Redward. And then Jedward came on X Factor and I was like I’m so happy I didn’t.’ Nowadays though, Ed considers Jedward members John and Edward Grimes to be pals and he recounted to Off Menu podcast how he first met the singing duo when he randomly drove past them in