The woman who gave Ed Sheeran his big break at Glastonbury festival six years ago has revealed how things changed rapidly for the young musician. This year will mark the 31 st year in a row that Sally Howell, 53, has run the Croissant Neuf stage at the festival.
Back in 2011, Sally booked Ed Sheeran and the ginger singer-songwriter performed an hour-long set on the Friday of the festival. Before his performance, the singer was described as “hotly tipped folky hip-hop” in the Croissant Neuf programme (see image above).
But how did things change after the Croissant Neuf performance? Sally has revealed that gig on the Croissant Neuf in 2011 was for free – it seems Ed was content just for the chance to play at Glasto. Later in 2011, Sally booked Ed Sheeran again for the Croissant Neuf Summer Party in Monmouthshire. This time his fee was £500.
By 2012, when Sally again tried to book Sheeran, his fee had increased to £50,000. Five years on he is dominating the charts, headlining Sunday at Glastonbury 2017 and presumably attracting even bigger fees. How much will it be this year…?