Ed Sheeran responds to claims he turned down chance to perform at King Charles III’s coronation
Ed Sheeran has denied claims that he refused to perform at King Charles III’s coronation concert at the weekend.
The pop star was one of many musicians speculated to have declined an invitation for the Windsor Castle concert on Sunday (May 7). However, the ‘Shape Of You’ singer put the rumours to rest during a chat on SiriusXM (via Metro), and confirmed that he didn’t attend the show because he was never invited.
“No one ever asked me (to perform),” he said, explaining where he was for the historic event, “I assume if they went online and went ‘What’s Ed doing on May 6’, they would go ‘Oh, he’s playing in Dallas’. I think that’s what’s happened.”
The 32-year-old singer-songwriter instead appeared as a guest judge on American Idol on Sunday evening, alongside Alanis Morissette. Both Sheeran and Morissette filled in for full-time judges on the show, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie, who were two of the main performers at the Windsor celebration.
He continued to shed light on why the rumours arose — explaining that some assumed his absence was related to the news that artists refused to attend the event. “I think that’s what happened, but obviously, [the] press had the negative story of loads of people turning down the coronation… But I never ever turned it down,’ he stressed, adding that he was “excited to tune in” to the show.
Other performers said to have declined the invitation from Buckingham Palace included Elton John, Adele, Harry Styles, The Spice Girls and Robbie Williams.
Back in February, it was reported that the newly-crowned King Charles III was “very keen” on having Adele and Sheeran perform at the event, but were informed that they were “unavailable”. “There is a team set up to get the talent signed up so they approached the two of them, but got replies saying that they were unavailable, which was a massive disappointment,” said a source supposedly close to the project. “They are titans of the showbiz industry and are quintessentially British but also known across the globe. It’s such a shame.”
On the night, Perry and Richie were joined by artists including Paloma Faith, Take That and Olly Murs. The performance was held in front of the King and Queen Consort, 20,000 members of the public and numerous other guests.
In other Ed Sheeran news, last week (May 5), the pop star shared his latest album, ‘-’ (‘Subtract’) — his fifth full-length LP.
Following on from 2021’s ‘=’, the album saw Sheeran venture into new themes of depression, anxiety and loss. In a three-star review, NME praised the album as being “impeccably melodic from beginning to end”, and for showing “his ability to capture life’s milestones in such intimate ways.”
Shortly before its release, the singer-songwriter also won a plagiarism case which centred around his 2014 song ‘Thinking Out Loud’.
The case was brought against him in 2016 by Ed Townsend – one of the co-writers on Marvin Gaye’s classic 1973 track ‘Let’s Get It On’ – who accused Sheeran of copying the rhythm in his song.
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
