"Bosses said I was slightly chubby and Ginger."

Ed Sheeran speaks out about how tough it was to get into the music business as music bosses said he was "slightly chubby and Ginger."

The You Need Me, I Don't Need You singer recently told SB.TV that it wasn't all rainbows and sunshine when he first stared getting into the music business. Ed Sheeran, was teased by record labels because of his red hair and chubbiness.  

He says, "Every single label I had gone to at the time had told me this song wasn't a hit. They said this song wouldn't work. And the fact that I was slightly chubby and ginger was not a good 'marketing tool' for them. So it did definitely feel like it wasn't going to happen."

The A-Team singer, who has won a BRIT award and is now on tour with Taylor Swift, playing in sold out shows,also told SB.TV about the worst gig he has ever played.

‘I remember I was en route to a gig to Exeter which was about two years ago. I was being paid about £50 for it and at the time I had been doing free gigs for about three years [laughs] so £50 was a pretty big deal,’ the star told SB.TV, as part of their summer campaign to help NCS try and create opportunities for young people.

‘So to get down there the train ticket was about £80 so I was like, “Fair enough, I’ll just try and sell a few CD's . 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 reality of the gig for Ed got worse as time passed during his set.

‘The sound engineer said I could wait for half an hour and see if anyone turns up so we waited and then came out again and no one was there. Waited another fifteen minutes and still no one and basically after waiting for a while I ended up playing to the sound engineer, which I really didn't mind.’

‘After all that I missed my train home because I was waiting at the gig and the next train was about five in the morning, so I kipped out at the train station that night and got on the train the next morning. On the way back I thought to myself this seriously isn't going to work. I felt every gig I played fewer and fewer people would attend and this was going nowhere.’

Ed Sheeran touring with Taylor Swift (WENN)

So it looks like the Ginger singer has the last laugh as he is now touring with T-Swift, wrote a hit song for One Direction, Performed on The X-Factor  and is selling out shows everywhere he goes!  Ed also sent out a message for the younger generation who are trying to make it in this world :"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."

I guess it one for team ginger and none for the big bad record labels.