Ashton Edwards

[Addie]

Name: Ashton Edwards (He/Him/His)

Avatar: Shawn Mendes

Age: 36 (born 16 March 1986 in Brighton)

Sex: Male 

Ethnicity: White British

Sexuality/Marriage Status: Closeted Homosexual, unmarried 

Party: Labour

Political Outlook: Somewhere between Momentum and Open Labour, though more on the Momentum side. Internationalism (proudly voted Remain), with a focus on increasing state power to fix inequalities.

Constituency: Brighton Kemptown

Year Elected: 2017

Education: Brunswick Primary School, Hove Park (Secondary), Brighton Institute  (Bachelor’s in Music [Song Writing & Music Business])

Career: Musician (2007 - Present, sort of…), MP for Brighton Kemptown

Parliamentary Career (if applicable): MP for Brighton Kemptown (2017 - Present). 

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Ashton Edwards was the first son born to Andrew and Jane Edwards, a husband-and-wife business couple that owned and operated a long-time family-run inn in Brighton that had been in the family for generators. He grew up with a younger brother, Brian, in the family’s terraced home. He attended state schools near his home. While his parents were sure that Ashton would have some sort of interest in taking over the business, his own passion was music. His parents would have Ashton play in their little shop - an old piano - to see if he’d get out of it. Spoiler alert: he didn’t. 

Throughout school he was a halfway-decent student, though he excelled in playing football and in playing music; Ashton chose to focus on the latter by applying to attend the Brighton Institute of Modern Music (now called BIMM). He learned to hone his talent, and move from playing covers of other artists to crafting his own pop-inspired music. 

Ashton pins his start in late 2007 when the website YouTube came to the UK; he used this platform (like so many others) to upload and share little clips of his playing and his covers to the internet. Some of his work at Brighton Pride also attracted a broad range of followers. He would also play at small shows throughout Brighton; his somewhat growing attention helped him get signed by Syco Music in 2009 which helped spread his reach (and income) beyond what he could pick up himself. His first studio single, a remastering of a song he wrote entitled “My Religion,” released in 2009 and topped out for a week at #6 on the UK Singles Chart for a short period. His first studio album, entitled Ashton Edwards, came out in early 2010 and received strong praise in its reviews for the kind of music that could appeal to teens and young adults in the pop category. A single from that album, “Promenade Road” again broke into the Top 10 on the Singles Chart, this time staying up there for a few weeks, and touching the Number 1 spot for a single week in late 2010.

While working on his second album, Ashton’s label signed the incredibly popular One Direction, whose success rapidly eclipsed his own, though Ashton was invited to open for the band during the UK and Ireland part of their Up All Night Tour in 2011.

Ashton’s second album, Never Young Enough, came out in 2012, again to strong reviews; this album debuted at #53 on the Billboard 200 Chart, and slowly climbed up, over the course of several weeks, to hit #1- where it was dethroned quickly by One Direction (don’t worry, he slightly outlasted the young bastards).

In 2013, Ashton embarked on his own world tour- well, “world” being the UK, Ireland, the Continent, and North America using songs from Never Young Enough and his earlier album, including popular covers as well. 

In 2014, he released A New Direction, where he started to move away from pop and into other genres; this album debuted highly from his name recognition but quickly fell off the charts as reviews were mostly negative, with one review posted online saying simply that “whatever direction it is, it’s a wrong way.” Ashton’s legions of fans jumped to his defense, but it wasn’t enough to boost record sales. Following that he announced a "hiatus" from music, saying that he'd done what he wanted to do (though that was not true at all), and he returned to his family in Brighton. He'd always been connected with various groups in the city, including with the organisers of Brighton Pride

Ashton’s family had been stalwart Labour supporters, and so that was the default starting position for him, though his experiences traveling the world and engaging with fans opened his eyes to all sorts of popular causes of the time on human rights (particularly LGBT+ rights as well as disabled rights) and environmental issues. Despite benefitting from capitalism, he also would talk about economic inequality, so sticking with Labour causes came naturally. Ashton was also pro-EU and helped to pen Remain’s anthem in the 2016 referendum as he thought Europe, with reforms, could be a force for good. 

His ties with the community, and his work in politics such as it was, helped him get selected as Labour's candidate for Brighton Kemptown in 2017. No doubt the CLP thought the star power would be helpful in driving up support for other Labour candidates as the Brighton Kemptown seat was certainly considered a safe one. He was elected easily over the Conservative candidate, though in the election had done what he could throughout the region to drive up support for other Labour candidates. Talking about the need to find the best Brexit deal that would support the tourism-heavy economy as well as broader opportunities for the region helped along with various videos he posted as well. 

As an MP, Ashton hope to make a positive impact on the youth of the UK by encouraging them to get into politics and to work on issues that are important for the future: the environment is one, as is dealing with social and economic inequalities. In the 2020 Labour leader election, he supported Rebecca Long-Bailey. He voted in favour of the 2020 Brexit bill (following the whip,) though his name had come up as someone who had a strong potential to rebel against the whip. 

Ashton is currently single (though he’s looking for love and using “dating” apps for that purpose). He’s no stranger though to the sort of attention this gets with tabloids having shared pictures on various dates in the past- and the attention of the many female fans who would no doubt love to win his favour.

Edited July 31, 2022 by Addison Milne
Edited because he was always from Brighton, and references to the Wirral should be gone...