'I grew up with trad music': Ed Sheeran says he identifies culturally as Irish

The Galway Girl singer has a large Irish family and said he would spend his holidays in the country as a child.

Ed Sheeran spoke about his Irish heritage (Hannah McKay/PA)

Pop singer Ed Sheeran has said he identifies culturally as Irish despite being born and raised in England.

The Galway Girl singer, 34, who was brought up in Suffolk, has a large Irish family and said he would spend his holidays in the country as a child.

“I class my culture as Irish. I think that’s what I grew up with,” he told The Louis Theroux Podcast.

“My mum’s family is very, very small, it’s her and her parents, and my dad’s family is… he’s got seven brothers and sisters.

“We’d spend all of our holidays in Ireland. My first musical experiences were in Ireland, I grew up with trad music in the house. So I identify culturally as Irish, but I was obviously born and raised in Britain.

“I do feel like my culture is something that I’m really proud of and grew up with and want to express.

“And I feel like just because I was born in Britain doesn’t necessarily mean that I have to just be (British), there’s loads of people I know that are half this or quarter this.”

Ed Sheeran spoke to Louis Theroux (Ian West/PA)

He added: “I don’t think there’s any rules to it. It should be how you feel and how you were raised and what you lean into.”

Asked if he gets “a lot of love” in Ireland, he said: “I’d say it’s basically my second home musically. I’d say Ireland is the place that I am most successful musically.”

Sheeran previously told BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs that he has Irish family and spent most of his childhood summers, birthdays and Christmases in the country.

Also on the podcast, Sheeran reflected on the drawbacks of fame and said he is “really sensitive” to people taking pictures of his children.

“My first daughter, six weeks after she was born, we hadn’t sent any photos of her whatsoever, but there was paparazzi outside our house that got a photo of her, and it was in the paper and I just found it weird that some strange old man that I’d never met was the only person with an image of my kid on their device.

“It’s a strange trade-off because, obviously, to be successful in the music industry, you end up being rich, famous and successful, and those things are things that people go, ‘Well, that’s the trade-off.’

“But my kids have not signed up to that, and I find it weird that it’s normal to take pictures of other people’s children if they’re famous.”

Sheeran is married to Cherry Seaborn and the couple have two children.

The four-time Grammy-winning singer also revealed that he does not own a private jet and likes to travel via train.

“I like the environment, I like trees. I’d find it hard to justify. No one’s perfect. When we’re doing intense promo trips, there will be the odd time”, he told Theroux.