<Ul> <Li> Rudimental </Li> <Li> Yelawolf </Li> <Li> Zeph Ellis </Li> </Ul> <Tr> <Th> Website </Th> <Td> edsheeran.com </Td> </Tr> <P> Edward Christopher Sheeran, MBE (born 17 February 1991) is an English singer - songwriter, guitarist, and record producer . He was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk . He attended the Academy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, Surrey, as an undergraduate from the age of 18 in 2009 . In early 2011, Sheeran independently released the extended play, No. 5 Collaborations Project . After signing with Asylum Records, his debut album, + (read as "plus"), was released on 9 September 2011 and has since been certified seven - 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 . </P> <P> Sheeran's popularity abroad began in 2012 . In the US, he made a guest appearance on Taylor Swift's fourth studio album, Red . "The A Team" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards, where he performed the song with Elton John . He spent much of 2013 opening for Swift's The Red Tour in North America dates . His second studio album, x (read as "multiply"), was released on 23 June 2014 . It peaked at number one in the UK and the US . In 2015, x won the Brit Award for Album of the Year, and he received the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year . His single from x, "Thinking Out Loud", earned him two Grammy Awards at the 2016 ceremony: Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance . </P>

When did ed sheeran's first album come out