Foy Vance – The Wild Swan

When no less than the world's most successful singer/songwriter takes notice of you and comes out as a huge fan of your music, that's probably one of the best seals of approval you can get as a musician. That's exactly what happened to Foy Vance, whose most famous fan is probably Ed Sheeran. And Sheeran showed just how much he loves Foy Vance's songs when he signed the Northern Ireland native directly as the second artist on his own label, Gingerbread Man Records.

"Ed's dad brought him to one of my gigs when Ed was just 13 years old," Foy Vance recounts. "He didn't tell me until after we had played a bunch of gigs together. But he must have seen something like 48 of my gigs before we met."

Even with his first signing - Jamie Lawson - Ed Sheeran demonstrated tremendous hit-making ability. The self-titled album shot straight to #1 on the UK charts and has reached gold status there. Foy Vance has already proven in many ways that he has what it takes to follow in the footsteps of his successful label mate: He has collaborated with artists as diverse as Plan B, Sheryl Crow and Rudimental, his music has been included in numerous series such as Grey's Anatomy and Sons Of Anarchy, and he co-wrote the beautiful ballads Tenerife Sea and Afire Love with Ed Sherran for Sheeran's hit album "x".

On his new album "The Wild Swan" the exceptional musician impressively shows the entire range of his unique songwriting talent. The Wild Swan" was recorded at Blackbird Studios in Nashville together with GRAMMY winner Jacquire King, who had already recorded and mixed Tom Waits' Mule Variations - one of Foy Vance's favorite albums.

That there is no doubt that "The Wild Swan" has all the ingredients to be a really great album was not only recognized by Ed Sheeran. Music legend Elton John is also a big supporter of Foy: He is not only the executive producer of "The Wild Swan", but also invited Foy Vance to play as the opening act on his European tour.