All great musicians start somewhere. For Ed Sheeran, the journey began with an angst-ridden demo CD that he released when he was just thirteen years old.
Somewhere out in the world, that rare copy of the first Ed Sheeran album ever is going up for auction. Somewhere else, Ed Sheeran is sweating bullets.
At 29-years-old, Ed Sheeran has risen up among the biggest pop musicians in the world. He recorded his very first demo album entitled “Spinning Man” back in 2004 when he was only thirteen.
In “Ed Sheeran: A Visual Journey,” a book he wrote back in 2014, he spoke of his first demo, saying that he possessed 19 of only 20 available copies that were ever made. He also mentioned that he never wanted anyone to get ahold of that last copy.
In his book, he wrote:
“There are probably 20 copies of ‘Spinning Man’ in existence, and I have 19 of them. I don’t want anyone else to get hold of a copy!” he wrote. “Most of the songs were about a girl called Claire. She was my first love when I was 13.”
“It was a very innocent love, and we only ever held hands, but it lasted a fair amount of time. Then came my first devastating break-up.
“Looking back, it really wasn’t that bad, but at the time it was soul-shattering. When she left me, I wrote a lot of songs off the back of it — my first love songs.”
There are 14 songs found on Spinning Man, which work in conjunction, to sum up the angst of just about any living teen. Some of the tracks include “On My Mind”, “Misery”, and, of course, we can’t forget “Moody Ballad of Ed.”
Omega Auctions, a British auction house for music memorabilia, recently released a photo of the album cover, which shows teenage ED playing his guitar. Sheeran noted that he gave this CD to a family friend back in early 2009 during the days that he spent time on the streets busking.
A brother of that family friend got word of the CD and is now selling it. Kevin, the brother of the family friend, who failed to reveal his surname, is the one selling it.
“My brother put it in a drawer and forgot about it.
“He didn’t realize that Ed would go on to be one of the biggest pop stars in the world.”
As of right now, this rare and unheard-of album is looking to make around £10,000 ($13,108) once it goes to auction in September.
“Spinning Man” never held any chart-toppers or reached any form of critical acclaim, however, three albums that he released later on, including “+”, “X”, and “÷”, made musical history.
His song “Thinking Out Loud,” which was found on his album “X”, won him Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the Grammy awards back in 2016. “÷” gave Ed a Grammy a few years later in 2018 for Best Pop Vocal Album.
His single from the “Shape of You” album won him Best Pop Vocal Performance.
As for now, the CD will g0 up for auction in Newton-le-Willows, Meyerside on September 8.
