"I speak to Elton on a weekly basis. He's very involved. I got a talk from him after the Brits nominations. He's overseas at the moment but left me an answerphone message. He said I've smashed it so hard and good luck.It's always good to hear from Elton. He's a lovely guy and is very passionate about the music. He wants me to be huge all over the world, and I'm up for that too."
That's Ed Sheeran, who might break US, or might not break the US. I am going to see him at the end of the month at Mercury Lounge though I sincerely doubt I'll be getting that chance again soon. Ed is already huge in the UK. His first album + is big big big in the UK, buzzing round the top of the charts for the past coupla months.
Stateside, Ed released the real good The A Team EP but nothing happened.
Enter Elton, who is really something of a big tim e pop music fan, though his mentoring sounds somewhat on the abysmal side here. I mean, who has John actually helped? Kiki Dee? John waits till somebody breaks and then supports them: it is like guessing the lottery numbers the day after the drawing. He did it with Lady Gaga. There is no star too big for Elton not to discover.