Ed Sheeran forced to miss his grandmother's funeral due to copyright trial

Ed Sheeran had to miss his grandmother's funeral in Ireland on Wednesday (May 3) due to his involvement in the copyright trial in New York. The singer had to mark his mandatory attendance at the court on the same day of his grandmother’s funeral, as reported by the Daily Mail. The 98-year-old Anne Nancy Sheeran, who served as the inspiration for one of his most intimate songs, Nancy Mulligan, was laid to rest in her birthplace of Gorey, Ireland. 

“I am very sad that our son Edward is unable to be here today. He’s so upset that he cannot be present — he has to be thousands of miles away in a court in America defending his integrity. I know he is comforted by the fact that he was able to spend some precious time alone with his grandma just a month ago,” Sheeran’s father said during his eulogy. 

Ed Sheeran's copyright infringement case

Ed Sheeran is currently embroiled in a copyright infringement case related to his 2014 hit Thinking Out Loud. The lawsuit claims that the singer’s track directly lifted ideas from Marvin Gaye's 1973 song Let's Get It On. It was filed by Structured Asset Sales, who bought a third of the song's shares from the family of Ed Townsend, who co-wrote the Gaye song. As opposed to this, Ed's defence claims that his song was written "without copying" Let's Get It On.

According to reports, Townsend's estate wants a cut of the money made from Sheeran's song. The singer has discussed his songwriting process with the court throughout his six days in court, going into more detail about Thinking Out Loud in particular. He acknowledged that the song's creation was a "very collaborative" effort on his part and that of co-writer Amy Wadge. Sheeran claimed that Wadge was going through a family illness, his grandad had passed away, and his grandma had been given a cancer diagnosis. These personal problems served as inspiration for the lyrics. The ongoing trial began at the Manhattan Federal Court on April 24 and has been going on this week in New York.