• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, May 2, 2023

A new four-part Disney docuseries on the life of singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran reveals what’s going on in parts of his life, but makes no mention of his “Let’s Get It On” plagiarism lawsuit.

The trial is going on right now in New York (at the time of this writing on Monday), and since this new docuseries is premiering on Disney+ on Wednesday, it is reasonable to assume that it was made and completed before the trial.

The suit was first filed in 2018 by the heirs of Ed Townsend, the songwriter who wrote the Marvin Gaye hit “Let’s Get It On.” 

They accused Sheeran, now 32, of borrowing passages of the 1973 song for one of his own songs called “Thinking Out Loud.”

The TV Blog has no ear for these kinds of things, but I listened to “Thinking Out Loud” on Spotify to see if I could make out the similarities between the song and “Let’s Get It On.” This attempt was inconclusive.

It was also the first time I had ever listened to an Ed Sheeran song. I didn’t care for his voice all that much, but I doubt that will keep Ed Sheeran up nights.

In the first episode of the show -- titled “Ed Sheeran: “The Sum Of It All’’ -- I learned that Sheeran, a native of a small town in England, is one of the top global acts in popular music today. 

His album and song downloads, YouTube video views and ticket sales for concert tours circling the globe are all described on the show as numbering in the many tens of millions.

Even at his relatively young age, he has been an international star since about 2011, starting with his first album, titled “Plus.”

The album included his first hit single, titled “The A Team,” which appears to have no connection whatsoever to the legendary 1980s NBC action series of the same name. 

Nor is it reported anywhere that anyone associated with the old show questioned whether the song title was plagiarized from the show.

Meanwhile, “The Sum Of It All” comes in four, half-hour parts each with a one-word title -- in order, they are “Love,” “Loss,” “Focus” and “Release.”

It is not unlike Sheeran’s approach to titling his albums too. His “Plus” album was followed by “Multiply,” “Divide,” “Equals” and “Subtract.” 

The “Love” episode of the show is devoted to the story of how Sheeran met, courted and then married his wife, Cherry. As depicted on the docuseries, their married life is a massive (as they say in the U.K.) success.

The episode called “Loss” is about the sudden death of Sheeran’s best friend, Jamal Edwards, a young, ambitious music entrepreneur who Sheeran credits with turning him into a star. Edwards died at age 31 in February 2022. His death was reportedly drug-related.

Producing a docuseries about Ed Sheeran for streaming on Disney+ was a no-brainer. The millions of Sheeran’s fans who sell out his concerts, watch his videos and buy his music will flock to it.

None of them will likely care one way or the other whether he plagiarized a 50-year-old song recorded by a singer they never heard of.

“Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All” starts streaming on Wednesday (May 3) on Disney+.