Entertainment

Seven times Ed Sheeran couldn't have been prouder of his Irish roots

WORLD famous Ed Sheeran is not only a multi-award winning singer songwriter and a global success story but is also a proud Irishman.

Sheeran's Irish roots stretch back to his paternal grandparents who come from Derry and Wexford and now live in Gorey, Co. Wexford.

In past interviews Sheeran has been known to speak proudly of Ireland and his Irish roots.

In an interview with The Irish Examiner in 2011 he spoke of how his family "used to go over three or four times a year. We have loads of Irish cousins. My grandparents live in Gorey in Wexford."

He has even admitted to being inspired to pick up the guitar after watching a Damien Rice concert in Dublin when he was just 11 years old.

Last week the 25-year-old hit-maker ended his year hiatus by releasing two songs Castle On The Hill and Shape of You from from his next album called ÷ (divide).

It follows on from his earlier albums, 2011's + (plus) album and his 2014 x (multiply album), both of which achieved critical and popular acclaim.

The singles have already become worldwide successes breaking first day streaming records with 23million streams in 48 hours on Spotify, beating One Direction's first day release record.

In honour of that, here's seven times Ed Sheeran has been loud and proud of his Irish roots.

Sheeran performed his hit single Thinking Out Loud in Irish for the album CEOL 2016

The triple-platinum selling single, which is now a firm wedding favorite, was released as the album's first track.

You can listen to Thinking Out Loud as Gaeilge below...

Sheeran made a brief cameo in a GAA shirt in last year's highly-anticipated comedy Bridget Jones's Baby

The singer made a hilarious appearance in the film in which he sports a GAA jersey during a concert scene.

Ed has history sporting his GAA colours - he did the same while playing a concert at a sold-out Croke Park in front of a 80,000 bumper crowd in 2015.

Sheeran appearing in a GAA jersey in a scene for Bridget Jones's Baby

The artist covers the popular Irish trad song The Parting Glass

The song has been covered in the past by Sinead 0'Connor, The Pogues and Bob Dylan.

Sheeran has covered the song in many of his concerts and even played it at Wembley. He also included it as a bonus track on his critically-acclaimed album +, which went triple platinum in Britain and Australia.

Ed performed the Irish trad song five years ago for homeless charity Crisis, which is a supporter of.

Below is Ed Sheeran's take on The Parting Glass...

Ed has played in Ireland many times and seems to love it everytime

The superstar always pops by to play a stadium or two and the last time he was in Ireland was July 2015.

He played a bumper four nights at Croke Park in Dublin and two nights in Belfast to a combined crowd of over half a million fans.

Can't wait for this weekends shows at Croke Park stadium. I love me some Ireland https://t.co/iV4a745ndg

— Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) July 23, 2015

Dublin night #4 !

A photo posted by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos) on Oct 6, 2014 at 2:18pm PDT

Sheeran starting out busking in Galway

The then 14-year-old used to hone his craft by busking on the streets of Galway.

Shop Street in Galway is famed for featuring in Sheeran's music video for his 2015 single Photograph.

Ed wrote the hit single with Northern Irishman and Snow Patrol band member Johnny McDaid.

Busking in Galway

The talented singer also has a tattoo in Gaelic

He got the tattoo in 2014 and it reads "nuair is gá dom fháil bhaile, is tú mo réalt eolais" which means "when I need to get home, you’re my guiding light".

The star got the tattoo on the bottom half of his right arm after teaming up with Co. Down singer-songwriter, Foy Vance, on his track Guiding Light, which features Sheeran.