Ed Sheeran Becomes An Emotional Wreck During Comic Relief Trip At Ebola-Stricken Liberia
British pop star Ed Sheeran found himself an emotional wreck after meeting a young girl named Peaches whose father died of the Ebola disease. The singer-songwriter teamed up with British charity Comic Relief for his visit to the West African coast of Liberia where the outbreak of Ebola virus caused an epidemic in 2014 to 2015 and took away almost 5,000 lives. Sheeran's visit will be part of the annual telethon event for Comic Relief broadcasted March 24.
The "Thinking Out Loud" singer said he didn't want to be "the celebrity who comes over to Africa and cried on TV and says send you're money over" but found himself doing just that. His emotional encounter with young Peaches hit him hard and became an "incredibly eye-opening experience" for the 26-year-old hitmaker. "I wanted to be like everything's positive, everything's great but singing with that girl. Her dad taught her how to sing and she got really choked up," said Ed Sheeran, himself choking up and wiping away his tears in front of the camera. Peaches' father died shortly after he was taken to the Ebola treatment unit. Her mother couldn't afford to send her to school so she's stopped schooling since then. Sheeran listened as she sang the song to remember her father.
Ed Sheeran released his 16-track third album ÷ (Divide) Friday. It debuted at the top spot on the Billboard 200 and have amassed more 432,000 sales in just three days after it officially hit the market. His new tracks "Shape of You," "Castle on the Hill," "Galway Girl" and "Perfect" are expected to hit the top four singles while the rest of the songs on the album are headed to the top 40, according to BBC. Sheeran hopes to beat fellow British singer-songwriter Adele's album sales while he's supportive of "You're Beautiful" singer James Blunt, whom Sheeran taught how to write songs again in exchange for some ski lessons. Sheeran's also good friends with "Love Yourself" singer Justin Bieber. Sheeran confessed he hit Bieber in the cheek with a golf club.
