Suffolk star Ed Sheeran’s first demo CD is set to go under the hammer next month.
The Framlingham singer’s first album, Spinning Man - written after his first love left him heartbroken - was recorded when the now global superstar was aged just 13.
The star, now 29, made around 20 copies of the album but owns 19 of them himself, having previously admitted that he didn’t want anyone to own a copy.
One of the copies not owned by Sheeran, which features songs like Addicted and Misery, was recently found in a drawer where it had been left for many years.
The copy was given to a friend of relatives that Sheeran was staying with while he was making money busking.
The man’s brother, Kevin, 48, who does not want to give his surname, is now selling the rare CD.
“My brother put it in a drawer and forgot about it,” he told the PA news agency.
“At the time Ed Sheeran was this just this wee, ginger-haired busker and he thought nothing of it.
“He didn’t realise he would go on to be one of the world’s biggest pop stars.”
Ed has previously spoken about the album in his book, Ed Sheeran: A Visual Journey.
“In 2004, I made my very first album, Spinning Man, named after a picture that my dad had,” said Sheeran.
“I burnt the CDs myself and made the covers. There were 14 songs, and they were all songs that rhymed.
“One lyric went: ‘I’m a typical average teen if you know what I mean.’
“There are probably 20 copies of Spinning Man in existence, and I have 19 of them. I don’t want anyone else to get hold of a copy.”
He added: “Most of the songs were about a girl called Claire. She was my first love when I was 13.
“It was a very innocent love, and we only ever held hands, but it lasted a fair amount of time. Then came my first devastating break-up.
“Looking back, it really wasn’t that bad, but at the time it was soul-shattering.
“When she left me, I wrote a lot of songs off the back of it - my first love songs.”
Kevin said he was impressed when he heard the CD.
“The quality of the songs are really good and I was shocked by how good he was on the electric guitar,” said Kevin.
“It does sound like Eric Clapton at moments.
“I play guitar. The fact that he was playing like that when he was 13, he must have been talented from the start.”
The CD features cover photography by Sheeran’s father, and is expected to fetch £10,000 at Omega Auctions.
Kevin added: “Most of the other CDs - or all the other CDs, as far as I know - have a sticker on the disk, saying ‘Ed Sheeran Spinning Man’.
“But for this one he’d run out of stickers so he wrote his name on the disc and handed it to my brother. So it might be the only signed copy.”
The CD will be sold at a specialist music sale at Omega Auctions in Newton Le Willows.
Auctioneer Paul Fairweather said: “We’re really excited to have the chance to sell what’s now an important artefact in contemporary music history, a milestone in the development of one of the world’s biggest pop stars.
“We’ve no doubt it will attract worldwide attention.”
The sale will take place on September 8.
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