Father knows best—at least for pop star Ed Sheeran. On the May 7 episode of BBC Radio 4’s long running show, Desert Island Discs, the 26-year-old singer stopped by to enumerate the eight songs he would bring as an island castaway. While on the show, Sheeran also spoke of his love for visual art, a passion instilled in him at an early age by his father, an art historian and curator.
Describing his art proclivities to host Kirsty Young, the singer seemed to be taking his father’s imparted wisdom to heart: “He’s always said art is meant to be enjoyed. You don’t buy art for investment. I bought this guy called Harland Miller, who puts really offensive slogans on Penguin books, I’ve got pretty much the most offensive word you can have huge in my house. That’s something I really buzz off, I really like.”
The interview show has been on air since 1942 and features prominent cultural figures who introduce the eight records they couldn’t live without. Over the years, plenty of artists have appeared on the show: Damien Hirst, Tracy Emin, David Hockney, and Dame Zaha Hadid have all visited the studio to reveal their record choices. In 2013, Hirst included both Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi,” and unsurprisingly, The Stone Roses’ “I Am The Resurrection.”
Sheeran is clearly on a roll of late: His latest album “Divide” spent a week at number 1 on the Billboard 200, and he was recently immortalized at the venerable National Portrait Gallery in London by painter Colin Davidson, who has also captured the likes of Liam Neeson and Queen Elizabeth.
Harland Miller, Fuck Art, Let’s Dance (2011). Image courtesy of Ingleby Gallery, ©Harland Miller.