Ed Sheeran 'nearly killed' Sir Elton John

Grammy winning-singer Ed Sheeran "almost killed" legendary English singer-songwriter Elton John while shooting their festive music video after he kicked a "big metal bell" and it came close to hitting his friend on the head.

Speaking to Apple Music's Zane Lowe about the track, Sheeran said: "We just shot a Christmas music video. Oh, mate. I almost killed him with a bell.

"On the video, there's footage of... I'm dressed up as sort of sexy Santa Claus and I kick a present, but the present had a big metal bell on top of it. I showed him the footage of it today, because we slowed it down and the bell flew past his head and would've cracked him in the head.

"Oh my God, the horror that went through my body when it was flying through the air."

Despite the incident, the 'Perfect' singer is delighted with the video.

He added: "But, man, the music video is wild. We've parodied all the great British music videos that came at Christmas."

Sheeran said he'd never expected to record a Christmas single at this stage of his career, but it "made sense" to team up with his friend and mentor.

He said: "It is always the type of thing that I thought I would do when I was 60. My manager said he would retire if I made a Christmas album. I've always wanted to work with (Elton) and this made most sense."

The 'Shivers' singer earlier shared that John calls him every day and it was during a chat on Christmas Day last year that the idea for a festive single was sparked.

He said: "Elton rung me on Christmas Day to say Merry Christmas. He rung me on Christmas Day, and he said, 'Step Into Christmas' is number six in the charts, and I'm 74, and I'm still having f****** chart hits, this is great! I want to do another Christmas song, will you do it with me?"