Ed Sheeran's friend paying off mortgage with song royalties

Ed Sheeran says his friend and fellow musician Amy Wadge is paying off her mortgage with royalties from 'Thinking Out Loud'.

The 2014 track was co-written by Sheeran and Wadge, with the tune becoming one of the biggest tracks in pop of the last year.

Speaking to the Mirror, Sheeran said he was visited by his friend during the creation of second album 'x' because she was going through financial trouble and wanted one of their old songs to feature on the record.

However, they ultimately coined 'Thinking Out Loud' - which in turn has created a big boost for Wadge.

Sheeran said: "[Wadge] was going through financial troubles about a year ago.

"She drove to my house – my album was nearly done – and she asked if I could put a song from when I was 17 on the deluxe album, so she could get a little bit of money and pay the mortgage and bills and stuff."

"While she was there, we wrote 'Thinking Out Loud'. Now she never has to worry about money again."

In October the track became the first song to reach 500m plays on streaming service Spotify.

Watch the video for 'Thinking Out Loud' below: