Ed Sheeran‘s Disney+ docuseries, Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All, has premiered, and the project includes the singer talking about his friendship with the late Jamal Edwards and the massive grief he dealt with after Edwards’ death.
The world premiere of the docuseries took place Tuesday night at The Times Center in Manhattan, with a Q&A moderated by Gayle King that featured Sheeran and the series’ executive producers and director.
View this post on Instagram
In the four-part series, the “Shape of You” singer spoke highly of the music executive, who died in February 2022 at age 31, and detailed their relationship over the years.
The second episode of the docuseries, “Loss,” was primarily about Edwards.
In the series, Sheeran’s wife, Cherry, said he didn’t have enough time to properly grieve. 2022 was a heavy year for the singer, as Cherry was diagnosed with cancer while pregnant with their second child.
In an Instagram post at the time of Edwards’ death, Sheeran opened up about how his life had changed.
“Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumor, with no route to treatment until after the birth,” Sheeran wrote. “My best friend Jamal, a brother to me, died suddenly, and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter. I was spiraling through fear, depression, and anxiety. I felt like I was drowning, head below the surface, looking up but not being able to break through for air.”
“You have to wait for one person to be, ‘that’s great,’ and for me, it was Jamal,” Sheeran said in the series, describing Edwards as his “best friend.”
“It’s all pure sadness; it’s all horrible,” he said during another portion of the episode. “I know everyone goes through it; I know that it’s like a common thing that you can’t avoid … but yeah.”
Edwards grew up in Luton, England, and later settled in Acton with his sister, Tanisha, mom, Brenda Edwards, and stepfather, Patrick.
But he was more than Sheeran’s best friend and the person who discovered him.
Edwards founded the online music platform SB.TV in 2006. He helped new artists by sharing their music and videos with viewers who tuned into the program.
He led a fulfilling life working with some of the industry’s top artists and dabbled in fashion, writing and directing. He is also credited for being instrumental in the careers of U.K. talents such as Stormzy, Dave, Jessie J, Skepta, Rita Ora, Jessie Ware, Emeli Sandé and more. As a result, he was highly thought of as one of the most, if not the most, influential people in U.K. music in a generation. In 2011, Edwards also established Just Jam Records under RCA Records. In addition, he directed commercials and music videos, including Sheeran’s “Bad Habits” remix in 2013.
Edwards also had various charitable ties to his community through Prince Charles’ charity, Prince’s Trust, and his group, Jamal Edwards Delve, which ran youth centers. Queen Elizabeth awarded him an MBE honor in 2015 for his work in the U.K. music industry. Edwards was later named to lists and honored by GQ, Time magazine, The Sunday Times and The Guardian.
He received an honorary MBA from Luton & Bedfordshire University and an honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of West London.
Amid his death, Prince Charles wrote, “Thinking of the family of Jamal Edwards today. His work in music but also as an ambassador for a new generation, including his work for The Prince’s Trust, were an inspiration to so many.”
At the premiere, Sheeran spoke about not only how this docuseries shine a light on Edwards’ work during his life, but also how so many people will know about him now.
“Disney is such a far-reaching company that there’s gonna be countries in the world that Jamal would never have dreamed that he’s gonna be on a TV there,” Sheeran told King and the audience. “Having him [featured in] it … his mum and sister were like super involved in the edit and getting things approved, and I’m really happy with the way that it depicts him and his legacy.”
On processing the grief of Edwards’ death, Sheeran added, “I don’t think you should process it … [you] have to respect the person that you’ve lost. You just have to live with it and allow yourself to be sad sometimes and allow yourself to laugh at the fun memories and stuff like that. But to erase someone from your memory to not feel sad, I think, is quite disrespectful to the memory of that person. So I allow myself to feel sad when I want to feel sad.”
He added, “It isn’t a documentary on a musician. I feel like it’s a documentary on grief.”
Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All is now streaming on Disney+.
