--- title: Ed Sheeran's Doppelgänger Can't Catch A Break description: The redheaded British crooner has a strikingly lookalike in Ty Jones, 21, who says he struggles with his unintended celebrity status. canonical: https://time.com/4354290/ed-sheeran-doppelganger-lookalike/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-01T21:43:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:32:54.241Z og:title: Ed Sheeran's Doppelgänger Can't Catch a Break og:description: Fame can be a double-edged sword — especially if you don't ask for it og:url: https://time.com/4354290/ed-sheeran-doppelganger-lookalike/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ed Sheeran's Doppelgänger Can't Catch a Break twitter:description: Fame can be a double-edged sword — especially if you don't ask for it twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Ed Sheeran's Doppelgänger Can't Catch a Break > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=11e22b00-d72e-43cb-b1f6-736f84659cac&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 1, 2016 9:43 PM UTC  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Jun 1, 2016 9:43 PM UTC Ty Jones has been dealing with the unintended consequences of looking like a famous person for years. And the strikingly spot-on doppelgänger of redheaded British crooner [Ed Sheeran](http://time.com/4012673/ed-sheeran-lion-tattoo-prank/?iid=sr-link1) says it hasn’t always been fun and games, Jones told [the _Mirror_](http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/ed-sheeran-lookalike-reveals-being-8093339). As Sheeran’s popularity has skyrocketed — racking up Grammys and selling out stadium concerts — so, too, has the 21-year-old Jones’s struggle to remain anonymous while walking down the street. The Manchester native says he’s even [caused a “riot](http://thetab.com/2015/07/22/the-20-year-old-ed-sheeran-lookalike-who-accidentally-caused-a-riot-in-manchester-46106)” with eager fans. “He’s such a big artist and I’m a massive fan of his but now it’s like I can’t escape it,” Jones said. “People go mad when they think they’re meeting Ed Sheeran.” Still, Jones has managed to make some lemonade out of the situation: he’s appeared on multiple episodes of a “Lookalikes” TV show according to his [Twitter](https://twitter.com/Ty1991Ed) and [Instagram](https://twitter.com/Ty1991Ed) accounts, and he signed with a lookalikes agency to perform at gigs and attend events as Sheeran. He even got to meet Sheeran himself, who was “shocked” at their similarities. Jones said they’re planning a second rendezvous sometime soon. Jones said that being mistaken for the Grammy-winning star hasn’t been great for his relationships, though: “When girls ask me for pictures in the streets it’s annoyed some of my girlfriends in the past and caused problems,” he told the Mirror. As Sheeran [has sung](http://genius.com/Ed-sheeran-the-a-team-lyrics): “The worst things in life come free to us.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4354290/ed-sheeran-doppelganger-lookalike/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4354290/ed-sheeran-doppelganger-lookalike/"},"headline":"Ed Sheeran's Doppelgänger Can't Catch a Break","datePublished":"2016-06-01T21:43:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:32:54.241Z","description":"Fame can be a double-edged sword — especially if you don't ask for it","url":"https://time.com/4354290/ed-sheeran-doppelganger-lookalike/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","celebrities","viral","photography","celebrity"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4354290/ed-sheeran-doppelganger-lookalike/","name":"Ed Sheeran's Doppelgänger Can't Catch a Break"}}]}] ```