Ed Sheeran’s first-ever demo album written aged 13 sells for £50,000

Sheeran is reportedly in possession of all other copies of his rare first album

A demo made up of love songs by 13-year-old Ed Sheeran has sold at auction for £50,000.

The singer made approximately 20 copies of the album, titled Spinning Man, and previously admitted to owning 19 of them because he doesn’t “want anyone else to get hold of a copy”.

The rare record was found in a drawer of a distant family friend, where it had been “forgotten” for years.

According to the auctioneers, it sold on Tuesday (8 September) for a total of £61,500, with the buyer’s premium included.

Paul Fairweather, from Omega Auctions, called the amount “an incredible price”. He added, “We expected it to sell well but that certainly exceeded our expectations."

At 13 years old, Sheeran was reportedly staying with relatives while busking to make money, when he gave a copy of Spinning Man to a friend of his relatives.

The friend’s brother, Kevin – who wishes to withhold his surname – later came to into possession of the demo.

Sheeran previously revealed that he wrote the songs on Spinning Man, including tracks such as “Addicted”, “Misery” and “Typical Average”, after being left heartbroken by his first love. 

In his 2014  book Ed Sheeran: A Visual Journey, the singer-songwriter wrote: “In 2004, I made my very first album, Spinning Man, named after a picture that my dad had.

“I burnt all the CDs myself and made the covers. There were 14 songs, and they were all songs that rhymed.”

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He added, “One lyric went: I’m a typical average teen if you know what I mean.”

The CD sold alongside Jimmy Hendrix’s feather boa which went for £14,500, less than a third of the amount paid for Sheeran’s demo.