‘I WAKE UP EVERY DAY AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN. LIFE IS NEVER DULL.’ Stuart Camp is the manager who has masterminded Ed Sheeran’s journey from open mic nights to record-breaking stadium tours, via more than 50 million album sales. That will soon be 50 million-plus-quite-a-lot, with = due on October 29. Here Camp tells MBUK about their journey, their relationship and how, over 10 years, everything has changed, except the important stuff…
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y a quirk of scheduling, MBUK ends up talking to Stuart Camp on the tenth anniversary of the release of Ed Sheeran’s debut album, +, on September 9, 2011. Asked what he was doing a decade to the day ago, Camp doesn’t hesitate. “I’d have been with Ed in HMV buying as many copies as we could.” On September 9, 2021, he is again with Ed, only this time in Tampa, ahead of his client playing at the NFL’s Kickoff show, ahead of the opening game of the season. 14
Things have changed – but not everything. Because back in HMV, Camp and Sheeran weren’t simply trying to boost their chart chances, they were sharing and enjoying what they knew was a special moment, and a feeling that still resonates. “There was a real sense of excitement about going to buy your own record, our record. I’d never experienced that before, or seen anyone else buying our record. It really was, and still is, quite something when you see it in the flesh, out in the wild,” Camp recalls. “And to be fair, that hasn’t really diminished. It will be the same
for =. 10 years ago, bloody hell.” + would go on to top the charts in the UK, reach No. 5 in the US, shift around four million units and prove to be just the start of a career that has seen Sheeran become one of the most successful artists of all time, whether measured by record sales or live revenues. His second and third albums, x (2014) and ÷ (2017) went to No. 1 on the UK and US album charts, selling around 18 million and 21 million units respectively. His 255-date ÷ tour is the highest grossing of all time, bringing in revenues of $776m.
