The 'Give Me Love' singer reveals in an interview with SB.TV that companies turned him down because 'the fact that I was slightly chubby and ginger wasn't a good 'marketing tool' for them.'
- Jul 2, 2013
AceShowbiz - Ed Sheeran shared stories of his struggle to SB.TV as a part of their summer campaign to help NCS try and create opportunities for young people. The British singer said that many record labels turned him down because of his physical appearance. "The fact that I was slightly chubby and ginger wasn't a good 'marketing tool' for them," Ed said.
He, however, did not lose hope. "The way I maintained self-belief is that I knew I wasn't good at anything else so what else was I going to do and secondly with the whole look and songs that the labels rejected I knew it was really important you stay true to yourself," the singer, who is currently on tour with Taylor Swift, explained.
The "Everything Has Changed" singer also talked about a painful experience he had a few years back. "I remember I was en route to a gig to Exeter which was about two years ago. I was being paid about 50 pound sterling for it and at the time I had been doing free gigs for about three years, so 50 pound sterling was a pretty big deal," he said with a laugh.
"So to get down there the train ticket was about 80 pound sterling so I was like, 'Fair enough, I'll just try and sell a few CDs.' So, I got to the venue and did a sound check, waited around for a bit and it was time for me to get to the stage, I walked up and got on and there was no one in the room," the BRIT Award winner continued, adding that he ended up singing to the sound engineer.
The 22-year-old singer told other aspiring singers to keep trying. "If you want something so badly go out there and grab, just keep on doing it - because there are people out there who do want it just as much as you do and there are people out there if given the opportunity to take my place will so it's just as important to keep pushing yourself and working at it," he concluded.
