A man who works at an Asda in Manchester has made headlines this week due to his uncanny resemblance to Ed Sheeran.
The 25-year-old shelf stacker from Greater Manchester, Wesley Byrne, explained that he is constantly mistaken for the ‘Shape Of You‘ singer. Once he was even forced to show his passport to a drunk customer who wouldn’t accept that he wasn’t Ed Sheeran.
See a picture of Byrne and read what he had to say about his lookalike lifestyle below.
“I’ve developed a bit of a sense of when it’s going to happen – it happens all the time when I’m out and about,” he said. “Being stopped in the street and asked for pictures and autographs has started to happen more and more since he’s got bigger, especially if I’m out in Manchester.”
“Most people just shout and I wave back at them.”
“People ask for pictures with me whenever we go anywhere,” he continued. “A couple of times my girlfriend has glared at the women who shout and want pictures with me, she doesn’t handle it very well.
“A random guy on a night a few years back didn’t believe I wasn’t him. He spent a good 15 minutes convinced I was him and wasn’t having any of it when I said I wasn’t. He even wanted me to start singing. I said to him ‘I don’t know who you think I am but I can’t do that’.
“My mates just stood there laughing. I Googled him when I got home and it freaked me out a little bit when I saw how similar we looked.”
Byrne describes that he is regularly swamped by people asking for autographs and his visit to Comic Con was even more intense than usual.
“Comic Con in Manchester last year was crazy. I normally spend a lot of money on a costume but that year I just wore regular clothes and I was mobbed by people thinking I was him.
“I kept tally – I was stopped by 52 people. It was just fun.”
The Ed Sheeran doppelganger has stated that he is eager to begin a career as a professional lookalike for the singer. Although his vocals aren’t quite up to scratch, he’s admitted, he is currently learning acoustic guitar.
“My singing voice is terrible but I’m teaching myself how to play the guitar,” he said. “I’ve not made much progress but I’ve managed to pretty much learn ‘Shape Of You’.
“I’m going watching him in May at the Etihad Stadium. It would be great to meet him – I just think his story is amazing.
“He came up from nothing because of his raw talent and didn’t have to rely on gimmicks. He’s inspirational.”
