Ed Sheeran recalls how 'favourite' guitar gifted by Eric Clapton was almost lost to house fire
Ed Sheeran has recalled the time the guitar given to him by his hero Eric Clapton was almost destroyed in a fire.
The Shape of You singer was gifted the instrument, which he named as his favourite, by Clapton after they became friends but it was almost lost when Sheeran's home studio went up in flames.
He spoke about the incident on the Hot Ones series as he explained how the guitar had been salvaged.
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"My hero is Eric Clapton, he's the reason I started playing guitar and I saw him on TV when I was 11 I picked up a guitar I learn Layla it kind of went from there," Sheeran, 30, explained. "I got to know him in 2015 and we’ve been friends ever since."
He said that he was once at Clapton's home when the 76-year-old took his own guitar off the wall, signed it and gave it to an elated Sheeran.
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Speaking about the fire that followed, Sheeran explained: “It was the only guitar in my studio at home and I was on tour and the living in my house phoned me up and said, ‘Your music studio is on fire it's burning to the ground we've got the fire brigade here’, and I was like, ‘F*** the guitar is in that studio.'"
He went on to say the guitar was "ruined" after being "burnt to a crisp".
However, a friend took it away to get it restored and after a year it was returned to Sheeran complete with Clapton's signature in tact.
“A year later he brought it back totally restored, and it smells like a burnt house, it's got this burnt wood smell," he said. "But it plays amazing, looks amazing, smells amazing and it still has Eric’s signature on the back. That’s my favourite guitar.”
Sheeran recently returned to the charts after taking time away from work following the birth of daughter Lyra Antarctica Seaborn Sheeran with wife Cherry Seaborn last year.
His song Bad Habits hit number one earlier this month. The track will feature on his upcoming fifth studio album.
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