What Makes Ed Sheeran Nervous About the Grammys? Not Singing with Elton John

Performing at the music industry's biggest awards show, in front of a TV audience of millions, singing with one of the biggest stars in music history, that's what Ed Sheeran will be doing February 10 as he takes the stage at the Grammy Awards to duet with Elton John.  But strangely, Ed says that's not why he's freaking out about the evening.

Ed says, "You know what?  I'm not nervous about being on TV and I'm not nervous about it being a duet with Elton."  So what is he getting the jitters about, then?  He explains, "It's one thing being from Britain, going to a British awards show, because when you go to that, you kind of know 95 percent of the people there.  But I've never been in front of pretty much the whole of the American industry."

He adds, "I don’t know any of them, apart from someone like Taylor Swift probably, so that's gonna be quite nerve-wracking.  I mean it's good, it puts me on the map, but it's also quite nerve-wracking."

Ed also reveals that the duet with Elton was all the legendary singer's idea.  "He rang me up and was like, 'So, how would you feel about playing the Grammys with me?'" Ed laughs.  "And I was like, 'Um, yeah, I think that could probably work.'”

It's not like the two singers don't know each other, though.  Elton first reached out to Ed several years ago to offer him support when he first became big in the U.K.  Ed say's "He's been in touch for the past...three years, but has mostly become very prominent when we started to break the States, 'cause he knows the States like the back of his hand."

Ed's up for Song of the Year at the Grammy Awards for his hit "The A Team."