On Wednesday evening, via Instagram, Ed Sheeran paid tribute to Jamal Edwards in a caption alongside a photograph of the duo in their younger days.
Sheeran told his audience ‘Jamal is my brother’ and continued in an outpouring that conveyed the deep respect, admiration and gratitude the singer-songwriter felt for Edwards.
Sheeran, who is the same age as Edwards, added that the entrepreneur ‘only used [his light] to illuminate others and never asked for anything in return.’
One of SBTV’s most popular videos, at nearly twelve million views, features Sheeran performing an acoustic version of ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’ in 2010. The collaborations Edwards and Sheeran produced for SBTV helped to push Sheeran into the spotlight from which he has become one of the world’s best-selling music artists. ‘Shape of You’ (2017), Sheeran’s biggest hit, became the first song to hit three billion streams on Spotify and stayed in the number one spot for twelve weeks.
The reference to Edward’s generosity is echoed by many others who knew him, including British rapper Lady Leshurr who gave thanks to Edwards for his assistance in the development of her career.
