You'll Be Alright, Kid (Chapter 1)

Ed Sheeran has long talked about how vital music education was in his youth, helping him to sort out his feelings and, of course, paving the way for him to become one of the most successful singer/songwriters of the modern era.

Now, the singer is paying it forward with the announcement on Thursday morning (Jan. 9) of the Ed Sheeran Foundation. In an Instagram post announcing the venture, Sheeran explained, “I set up @edsheeranfnd because recently there’s been less and less importance being put on music education. Even when I was in school it was seen as a ‘doss subject’ and not taken seriously. There’s a misconception that it’s ’not a real job’ – when the music industry accounts for 216,000 jobs in so many different fields, and bringing as much as £7.6 billion($9.3 billion dollars) in a year to the UK economy.”