Sting (musician)
Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner CBE , better
known by the stage name Sting, is an English
musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist,
activist, actor and philanthropist. He is
best known as the principal songwriter, lead
singer, and bassist for the new wave rock
band The Police and for his subsequent solo
career.
Sting has varied his musical style, incorporating
distinct elements of rock, jazz, reggae, classical,
new-age, and worldbeat into his music. As
a solo musician and member of The Police,
Sting has received 16 Grammy Awards for his
work, receiving his first Grammy for Best
Rock Instrumental Performance in 1980, three
Brit Awards – winning Best British Male
in 1994 and Outstanding Contribution in 2002,
a Golden Globe, an Emmy Award, and several
Oscar nominations for Best Original Song.
He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall
of Fame in 2002 and the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame as a member of The Police in 2003.
In 2000, he received a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame for recording. He was named to
the International Best Dressed List Hall of
Fame in 2001.
Including his years with The Police, Sting
has sold close to 100 million records worldwide.
In the UK, he has been awarded seven Platinum
album certifications, three Gold and a Silver,
and in the US, nine Platinum and three Gold
certifications. In 2006, Paste magazine ranked
him 62nd on their list of the "100 Best Living
Songwriters". He was ranked 63rd on VH1's
"100 Greatest Artists of Rock", and 80th on
Q magazine's "100 Greatest Musical Stars of
20th Century". Sting has also collaborated
with other musicians, including the duet "Rise
& Fall" with Craig David and the number one
hit "All for Love", with Bryan Adams and Rod
Stewart.
Early life
Sting was born in Wallsend, North Tyneside,
Tyne and Wear, England, the eldest of four
children born to Audrey (née Cowell), a hairdresser,
and Ernest Matthew Sumner, a milkman and engineer.
He grew up in the shadows of Wallsend's historic
shipyards, which made a deep and lasting impression
on him. Young Gordon would often assist his
father with the early-morning milk-delivery
rounds, and by age 10 he became "obsessed"
with an old Spanish guitar that had been left
behind by an emigrating friend of his father.
He attended St. Cuthbert's Grammar School
in Newcastle upon Tyne. He would often sneak
into nightclubs like the Club A Go-Go, where
he would watch acts such as Cream and Jimi
Hendrix, artists who would later influence
his own music. After jobs as a bus conductor,
a building labourer and a tax officer, he
attended Northern Counties College of Education,
from 1971 to 1974 and qualified as a teacher.
He then worked as a schoolteacher at St. Paul's
First School in Cramlington for two years.
Sting performed in jazz bands on evenings,
weekends, and during breaks from college and
from teaching. He played with local jazz bands
such as the Phoenix Jazzmen, the Newcastle
Big Band, and Last Exit. He gained his nickname
after he performed wearing a black and yellow
sweater with hooped stripes while onstage
with the Phoenix Jazzmen. Bandleader Gordon
Solomon thought that the sweater made him
look like a bee, which prompted the nickname
"Sting". In the 1985 documentary Bring on
the Night he was addressed by a journalist
as "Gordon", and replied: "My children call
me Sting, my mother calls me Sting, who is
this Gordon character?" In a 2011 interview
for Time magazine, he stated: "I was never
called 'Gordon'. You could shout 'Gordon'
in the street and I would just move out of
your way."
Musical career
The Police
In January 1977, Sting moved from Newcastle
upon Tyne to London, and soon thereafter he
joined Stewart Copeland and Henry Padovani
(who was soon replaced by Andy Summers) to
form the new wave band The Police. Between
1978 and 1983, they released five chart-topping
albums, and won six Grammy Awards, and two
Brit Awards; for Best British Group, and for
Outstanding Contribution to Music. Although
their initial sound was punk inspired, the
Police soon switched to reggae-tinged rock
and minimalist pop. Their last album, Synchronicity,
which included their most successful song,
"Every Breath You Take", was released in 1983.
According to Sting, who appeared in the documentary
Last Play at Shea, he decided to leave the
Police while onstage during the 18 August
1983 concert at Shea Stadium because he felt
that playing that venue was "Everest". While
never formally breaking up, after Synchronicity
the group agreed to concentrate on solo projects.
As the years went by, the band members, particularly
Sting, dismissed the possibility of reforming.
In 2007, however, the band reformed and undertook
a world tour.
Early solo work
In September 1981, Sting made his first live
solo appearance, performing on all four nights
of the fourth Amnesty International benefit
The Secret Policeman's Other Ball in London's
Drury Lane theatre at the invitation of producer
Martin Lewis. He performed solo versions of
"Roxanne" and "Message in a Bottle". He also
led an all-star band (dubbed "The Secret Police")
on his own arrangement of Bob Dylan's "I Shall
Be Released". The band and chorus included
Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Phil Collins, Bob
Geldof and Midge Ure, all of whom except Beck
later worked together on Live Aid. His performances
were featured prominently in the album and
movie of the show and drew critical attention
to his work. Sting's participation in The
Secret Policeman's Other Ball was the beginning
of his growing involvement in raising money
and consciousness for political and social
causes. In 1982 he released a solo single,
"Spread a Little Happiness" from the film
version of the Dennis Potter television play
Brimstone and Treacle. The song was a re-interpretation
of a song from the 1920s musical Mr. Cinders
by Vivian Ellis, and was a surprise Top 20
hit in the UK.
1980s
His first solo album, 1985's The Dream of
the Blue Turtles, featured a cast of jazz
musicians, including Kenny Kirkland, Darryl
Jones, Omar Hakim and Branford Marsalis. It
included the hit singles "If You Love Somebody
Set Them Free" (backed with the non-LP song
"Another Day"), "Fortress Around Your Heart",
"Love Is the Seventh Wave", and "Russians",
the last of which was based on a theme from
the Lieutenant Kijé Suite. Within a year,
the album reached Triple Platinum. This album
would garner Sting Grammy nominations for
Album of the Year, Best Male Pop Vocal Performance,
Best Jazz Instrumental Performance, and Best
Engineered Recording.
Also in 1985, he sang the line "I Want My
MTV" on "Money for Nothing" by Dire Straits.
He performed this song with Dire Straits at
the Live Aid Concert at Wembley Stadium. Prior
to the Live Aid concert, in November 1984
Sting was part of Band Aid's "Do They Know
It's Christmas?", which raised money for famine
victims in Ethiopia.
In 1985, Sting provided a short guest vocal
performance on the Miles Davis album You're
Under Arrest. He also sang backing vocals
on Arcadia's single "The Promise", and on
two songs from Phil Collins' album No Jacket
Required. He also contributed a version of
"Mack the Knife" to the Hal Willner-produced
tribute album Lost in the Stars: The Music
of Kurt Weill. In September 1985, Sting performed
"If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" at the
1985 MTV Video Music Awards at the Radio City
Music Hall in New York. The 1986 film Bring
on the Night, directed by Michael Apted, documented
the formation of the band and its first concert
in France.
Sting released...Nothing Like the Sun in 1987,
including the hit songs "We'll Be Together",
"Fragile", "Englishman in New York", and "Be
Still My Beating Heart", dedicated to his
mother, who had recently died. It eventually
went Double Platinum. The song "The Secret
Marriage" from this album was adapted from
a melody by German composer Hanns Eisler,
and "Englishman In New York" was about the
eccentric writer Quentin Crisp. The album's
title is taken from William Shakespeare's
Sonnet 130. The album won Best British Album
at the 1988 Brit Awards and in 1989 received
three Grammy nominations including his second
consecutive nomination for Album of the Year.
The hit song "Be Still My Beating Heart" earned
Sting additional nominations for Song of the
Year & Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. In
1989,...Nothing Like the Sun was ranked #90
on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "100
greatest albums of the 1980s".
Soon thereafter, in February 1988, he released
Nada como el sol, a selection of five songs
from Sun sung (by Sting himself) in Spanish
and Portuguese. He was also involved in two
other recordings in the late 1980s, the first
in 1987 with jazz arranger Gil Evans, who
placed Sting in a big band setting for a live
album of Sting's songs (the CD was not released
in the U.S.), and the second on Frank Zappa's
1988 Broadway the Hard Way album, where Sting
performs an unusual arrangement of "Murder
By Numbers", set to the tune "Stolen Moments"
by jazz composer Oliver Nelson, and "dedicated"
to fundamentalist evangelist Jimmy Swaggart.
October 1988 saw the release of Igor Stravinsky's
The Soldier's Tale with the London Sinfonietta
conducted by Kent Nagano. It featured Vanessa
Redgrave, Sir Ian McKellen and Sting in the
role of the soldier.
1990s
His 1991 album The Soul Cages was dedicated
to his recently deceased father and included
the Top 10 song "All This Time", which reached
No. 5 on the U.S. Pop chart, and the Grammy-winning
title track. The album eventually went Platinum.
The following year, he married Trudie Styler
and was awarded an honorary doctorate degree
in music from Northumbria University. In 1991,
Sting appeared on Two Rooms: Celebrating the
Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin, an album
dedicated to the singer/songwriter duo. Sting
performed "Come Down in Time", for the album
which also features other popular artists
and their renditions of John/Taupin Songs.
The album was released on 22 October 1991
by Polydor. Also in 1991, a recording of Prokofiev's
Peter and the Wolf was made by Deutsche Grammophon,
narrated by Sting, and played by Claudio Abbado
and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. This
was also used as the soundtrack to the television
special Peter and the Wolf: A Prokofiev Fantasy.
In 1993, he released the album Ten Summoner's
Tales, which peaked at number two in the UK
and US Album Charts, and went triple platinum
in just over a year. Ten Summoner's Tales
was nominated for the Mercury Prize in 1993
and nominated for the Grammy Award for Album
of the Year in 1994. The title is a wordplay
on his surname, Sumner, and The Summoner's
Tale, one of The Canterbury Tales. Hit singles
on the album include "Fields of Gold" and
"If I Ever Lose My Faith in You.", the latter
earning Sting his second Grammy Award for
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance at the 36th
Grammy Awards. Concurrent video albums were
released to support Soul Cages (a live concert)
and Ten Summoner's Tales (recorded during
the recording sessions for the album).
In May 1993, he released a cover of his own
Police song from the Ghost in the Machine
album, "Demolition Man", for the Demolition
Man film. Together with Bryan Adams and Rod
Stewart, Sting performed the chart-topping
song "All for Love" for the film The Three
Musketeers. The song stayed at the top of
the U.S. charts for five weeks and went Platinum;
it is to date Sting's only song from his post-Police
career to top the U.S. charts. In February,
he won two more Grammy Awards and was nominated
for three more. The Berklee College of Music
gave him his second honorary doctorate of
music degree in May. In November, he released
a greatest hits compilation called Fields
of Gold: The Best of Sting, which eventually
was certified Double Platinum. That same year,
he was featured in a duet with Vanessa Williams
on the song "Sister Moon," which appeared
on her album The Sweetest Days. At the 1994
Brit Awards in London, Sting won the award
for Best British Male.
His 1996 album, Mercury Falling debuted strongly
with the single "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot",
but it dropped quickly on the charts. He reached
the Top 40 with two singles the same year
with "You Still Touch Me" (June) and "I'm
So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" (December) (which
became a country music hit the next year in
a version recorded with American country singer
Toby Keith). During this period, Sting was
also recording music for the upcoming Disney
film Kingdom of the Sun, which went on to
be reworked into The Emperor's New Groove.
The film went through drastic overhauls and
plot changes, many of which were documented
by Sting's wife, Trudie Styler. She captured
the moment he was called by Disney who then
informed him that his songs would not be used
in the final film. The story was put into
a final product: The Sweatbox, which premiered
at the Toronto Film Festival. Disney currently
holds the rights to the film and will not
grant its release. That same year Sting also
released a little-known CD-ROM called All
This Time, which provided music, commentary
and custom computer features describing Sting
and his music from his perspective.
Also in 1996, he provided some vocals for
the Tina Turner single "On Silent Wings" as
a part of her Wildest Dreams album. In the
same year, his performance with the Brazilian
composer/artist Tom Jobim in the song "How
Insensitive" was featured in the AIDS benefit
album Red Hot + Rio produced by the Red Hot
Organization. Sting has also cooperated with
Greek popular singer George Dalaras, giving
a common concert in Athens. "Moonlight", a
rare jazz performance by Sting for the 1995
remake of Sabrina, written by Alan Bergman,
Marilyn Bergman and John Williams, was nominated
for a 1997 Grammy Award for Best Song Written
Specifically for a Motion Picture or Television.
On 4 September 1997, Sting performed "I'll
Be Missing You" with Puff Daddy at the 1997
MTV Video Music Awards in tribute of the late
Notorious B.I.G.. On 15 September 1997, Sting
appeared at the Music for Montserrat concert
at the Royal Albert Hall, London, performing
alongside artists such as Phil Collins, Mark
Knopfler, Elton John, Eric Clapton and Paul
McCartney.
2000s
The Emperor's New Groove soundtrack was released
with complete songs from the previous version
of the film, which included Rascal Flatts
and Shawn Colvin. The final single used to
promote the film was "My Funny Friend and
Me". Sting's September 1999 album Brand New
Day included the Top 40 hits "Brand New Day"
and "Desert Rose". The album went Triple Platinum
by January 2001. In 2000, he won Grammy Awards
for Brand New Day and the song of the same
name. At the awards ceremony, he performed
"Desert Rose" with his collaborator on the
album version, Cheb Mami. For his performance,
the Arab-American Institute Foundation gave
him the Khalil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Award.
In February 2001, he won another Grammy Award
for his rendition of "She Walks This Earth
(Soberana Rosa)" on A Love Affair: The Music
Of Ivan Lins. His song "After the Rain Has
Fallen" made it into the Top 40. His next
project was to record a live album at his
Tuscan villa in Figline Valdarno, which was
to be released as a CD and DVD, as well as
being simulcast in its entirety on the internet.
The CD and DVD were to be entitled On Such
a Night and was intended to feature re-workings
of Sting favourites such as "Roxanne" and
"If You Love Somebody Set Them Free." The
concert, scheduled for 11 September 2001,
was altered in various ways due to the terrorist
attacks in America that day. The webcast was
shut down after one song (a reworked version
of "Fragile"), after which Sting let it be
up to the audience whether or not to continue
with the show. Eventually they decided to
go through with the concert, and the resultant
album and DVD was released in November under
a different title,...All This Time. Both are
dedicated "to all those who lost their lives
on that day". He performed a special arrangement
of "Fragile" with Yo-Yo Ma and the Mormon
Tabernacle Choir during the opening ceremonies
of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City,
Utah, US.
In 2002, he won a Golden Globe Award for the
song "Until..." from the film Kate and Leopold.
Written and performed by him, "Until..." was
also nominated for Academy Award for Best
Song. At the 2002 Brit Awards in February,
Sting received the prize for Outstanding Contribution
to Music. In June he was inducted into the
Songwriters Hall of Fame. In the Queen's Birthday
Honours 2003 Sting was appointed a Commander
of The Most Excellent Order of the British
Empire For services to the Music Industry.
At the 54th Primetime Emmy Awards in September,
Sting won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual
Performance In A Variety Or Music Program,
for his A&E special, Sting in Tuscany... All
This Time.
In 2003, Sting released Sacred Love, a studio
album featuring collaborations with hip-hop
artist Mary J. Blige and sitar performer Anoushka
Shankar. He and Blige won a Grammy for their
duet, "Whenever I Say Your Name". The song
is based on Johann Sebastian Bach’s Praeambulum
1 C-Major (BWV 924) from the Klavierbuechlein
fuer Wilhelm Friedemann Bach though Sting
gave little comment on this adaptation. The
album did not have the hit singles like his
previous releases. The first single, "Send
Your Love" reached only No. 30 and reviews
were mixed. However, the album did reach platinum
status by January 2004.
His autobiography Broken Music was published
in October. He embarked on a Sacred Love tour
in 2004 with performances by Annie Lennox.
Sting went on the Broken Music tour, touring
smaller venues, with a four piece band starting
in Los Angeles on 28 March 2005 and ending
this "College Tour" on 14 May 2005. Sting
appears as a guest on the 2005 Monkey Business
CD by American hip-hop group The Black Eyed
Peas, adding vocals to the track "Union" which
makes heavy use of samples from his Englishman
in New York. Continuing with his involvement
in Live Aid, he appeared at Live 8 in July
2005. During 2006, Sting collaborated with
Roberto Livi in producing a Spanish-language
version of his cult classic "Fragile" entitled
"Fragilidad" on the album Rhythms Del Mundo
by Latino recording legends "The Buena Vista
Sound" (previously known as the Buena Vista
Social Club) available via apeuk.org.
During 2006, Sting was guest on the Gregg
Kofi Brown album, with the song "Lullaby to
an anxious child" produced and arranged by
the Italian Lino Nicolosi and Pino Nicolos
(Nicolosi productions) the song was written
by "Sting and Dominic Miller".
In October 2006, he released an album, to
mixed reviews, entitled Songs from the Labyrinth
featuring the music of John Dowland (an Elizabethan-era
composer) and accompaniment from Bosnian lute
player Edin Karamazov. Sting’s musical interpretation
of this English Renaissance composer and his
cooperation with Edin Karamazov brought him
significant recognition in classical music
circles. As a part of the promotion of this
album, he appeared on the fifth episode of
Studio 60 during which he performed a segment
of Dowland's "Come Again" as well as his own
"Fields of Gold" in the arrangement for voice
and two archlutes. Reports surfaced in early
2007 that Sting would reunite with his former
Police band mates for a 30th anniversary tour.
These rumours were confirmed on various other
news websites such as De Standaard, Yahoo!
etc. In May 2007, Deutsche Grammophon released
the opera Welcome to the Voice (composer Steve
Nieve), with Sting portraying Dyonisos.
On 11 February 2007, he reunited with the
other members of the Police as the introductory
act for the 2007 Grammy Awards, singing "Roxanne",
and subsequently announced the Police Reunion
Tour, the first concert of which was held
in Vancouver on 28 May 2007 for 22,000 fans
at one of two nearly sold-out concerts. The
Police toured for more than a year, beginning
with North America and eventually crossing
over to Europe, South America, Australia,
New Zealand and Japan. The last concert was
at Madison Square Garden on 7 August 2008,
during which his three daughters appeared
with him onstage. Toronto documentary producer
Vanessa Dylyn, who was producing a film called
The Musical Brain, featuring neuroscientist
Daniel Levitin, approached Sting about participating
in the film. Sting was interested in the experience
of having his brain scanned by fMRI while
different types of music were played to him.
The film was financed by CTV in Canada and
National Geographic International (broadcast
internationally as My Music Brain). Sting
was also featured in Levitin's second book,
The World in Six Songs, where several of his
songs (including "Russians") are discussed.
"Brand New Day" was the final song of the
night for the Neighborhood Ball, one of ten
inaugural balls honouring President Barack
Obama on Inauguration Day, 20 January 2009.
Sting was joined by Stevie Wonder on harmonica.
According to an article posted on his official
website, Sting entered the studio in early
February 2009 to begin work on a new album
If on a Winter's Night..., released on October
2009. Initial reviews by fans that had access
to early promotional copies were mixed, and
some questioned Sting's artistic direction
with this album.
In 2009, Sting appeared at the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame 25th anniversary concert, playing
"Higher Ground" and "Roxanne" with Stevie
Wonder. Sting himself was inducted in 2003,
as a member of The Police.
In October 2009, Sting played a concert in
Tashkent, Uzbekistan, for an arts and cultural
festival. Despite claiming he thought the
concert was sponsored by UNICEF, he faced
criticism in the press for receiving a payment
of between one and two million pounds from
Uzbek president, Islam Karimov, for the performance.
Karimov is accused by the UN and Amnesty of
human rights abuses and UNICEF stated they
had no connection with the event.
2010s
In 2010–2011, Sting continued his Symphonicity
Tour, touring South Korea, Japan, Australia,
New Zealand, South America and Europe. In
the second half of 2011, Sting began his Back
to Bass Tour, which would continue (with periodic
breaks) through 2013.
In 2011, Time magazine named Sting one of
the 100 most influential people in the world.
On 26 April he performed "Every Breath You
Take", "Roxanne" and "Desert Rose" at the
Time 100 Gala in New York City.
Sting recorded a song called "Power's Out"
with Nicole Scherzinger. The song, originally
recorded in 2007, was to have been included
on Scherzinger's shelved album Her Name is
Nicole. The song was released on Scherzinger's
2011 debut album Killer Love.
Sting recorded a new version of the song "Let
Your Soul Be Your Pilot" as a duet with Glee
actor/singer Matthew Morrison, which appears
on Morrison's 2011 eponymous debut album.
On 15 September 2011, Sting performed "Fragile"
at the 92nd Street Y in New York City, to
honour the memory of his friend, financier-philanthropist
Herman Sandler, who died in the 9/11 attacks
on the World Trade Center.
For several years, Sting has been working
on a musical, The Last Ship, partially inspired
by his album The Soul Cages. In 2013, the
musical had a staged reading. The Last Ship
tells a story about the demise of the shipbuilding
industry in 1980s Newcastle, and will debut
in Chicago in June 2014 before transferring
to Broadway in the Autumn. Sting's eleventh
studio album, titled The Last Ship and inspired
by the play, was released on 24 September
2013.
In February 2014, Sting began a tour with
legendary artist Paul Simon, after playing
together at a charity event and enjoying the
result. The "On Stage Together" tour features
both artists performing their own works as
well as collaborating on tunes such as "The
Boxer", and "Brand New Day", and has been
met with critical acclaim for the stylistic
synchronicities and the harmonic balance their
voices achieve.
Filmography
Sting has also ventured into acting. Film
and television roles include:
Quadrophenia (1979) – The Ace Face, the
King of the Mods, a.k.a. The Bell Boy in the
film adaptation of The Who album
Radio On (1980) – Just Like Eddie
Artemis 81 (1981) – The angel Helith (BBC
TV film)
Brimstone and Treacle (1982) – Martin Taylor,
a drifter
Dune (1984) – Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen
Titus Groan – Steerpike (BBC Radio 4 broadcasts
based on the Mervyn Peake novels)
Gormenghast (1984) – Steerpike
Plenty (1985) – Mick, a black-marketeer
The Bride (1985) – Baron Frankenstein
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
– A "heroic officer"
Stormy Monday (1988) – Finney, a nightclub
owner
Julia and Julia (1988) – Daniel, a British
gentleman
Saturday Night Live (1991) – host, various
The Grotesque (1995), a/k/a Gentlemen Don't
Eat Poets and Grave Indiscretion – Fledge
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
– J.D., Eddie's father and owner of a bar
Bring on the Night (1985)
The Simpsons episode "Radio Bart" (1992)
The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer Episode 5
(1995)
The Larry Sanders Show episode "Where Is the
Love?" (1996)
Ally McBeal season four episode "Cloudy Skies,
Chance of Parade" (2001)
Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out (2006)
Studio 60 on Sunset Strip (2006)
Vicar of Dibley Comic Relief special (2007)
Bee Movie (2007)
Little Britain USA (2008) as Stomp, the lead
singer of "The Cops" (playing "Fields of Gold")
Brüno (2009)
Still Bill (2009)
Do It Again (2010)
Life's Too Short (2011)
The Michael J. Fox Show (2013)(singing "August
Wind" from The Last Ship)
Sting narrated the American premiere of the
musical Yanomamo (1983), by Peter Rose and
Anne Conlon, outlining problems that existed
in the Amazon rainforest. This was made into
a film and later broadcast as Song of the
Forest. He also provided the voice of Zarm
on the 1990s television show Captain Planet
and the Planeteers. In 1989 he starred as
Macheath (Mack the Knife) in John Dexter's
Broadway production of The Threepenny Opera.
Sting also appeared as himself in the video
game Guitar Hero World Tour.
Activism
Sting's first involvement in the human rights
cause came in September 1981 when he was invited
by producer Martin Lewis to participate in
the fourth Amnesty International gala The
Secret Policeman's Other Ball following the
example set at the 1979 show by Pete Townshend.
Sting performed two of his Police compositions
as a soloist – "Roxanne" and "Message in
a Bottle"' – appearing on all four nights
of the show at the Theatre Royal in London.
Sting also led an impromptu super-group of
other musicians (dubbed The Secret Police)
performing at the show including Eric Clapton,
Jeff Beck, Phil Collins, Donovan, Bob Geldof
and Midge Ure in the show's grand finale – Sting's
own reggae-tinged arrangement of Bob Dylan's
I Shall Be Released. The event was the first
time that Sting had worked with Geldof, Collins
and Ure – an association that developed
further with 1984's Band Aid and 1985's Live
Aid. Sting's performance at the Secret Policeman's
Other Ball – his first live appearances
as a solo performer – was prominently featured
on the album of the show (being its lead tracks)
and in the feature film of the show.
His association with Amnesty continued throughout
the 1980s and beyond and he was a pioneering
participant in many of Amnesty's Human rights
concerts – a series of music events and
tours staged by the US Section of Amnesty
International between 1986 and 1998.
In June 1986, Sting reunited with the Police
for the last three shows of Amnesty's six-date
A Conspiracy of Hope concerts of the US. The
day after the final concert, he was interviewed
on NBC's Today Show about the origins of his
support for Amnesty International and he stated:
"I've been a member of Amnesty and a support
member for five years, due to an entertainment
event called The Secret Policeman's Ball and
before that I did not know about Amnesty,
I did not know about its work, I did not know
about torture in the world." Also in 1986,
Sting contributed a haunting song made famous
by Billie Holiday, "Strange Fruit," to a fund-raising
compilation album entitled Conspiracy of Hope:
Honouring Amnesty International's 25th Anniversary.
In 1988 he joined a team of other major musicians
– including Peter Gabriel and Bruce Springsteen
– assembled under the banner of Amnesty
International for the six-week Human Rights
Now! world tour commemorating the 40th anniversary
of the signing of the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights.
Sting had first shown his interest in social
and political issues in his 1980 Police song
"Driven to Tears", an angry indictment of
apathy in the face of world hunger. Sting
took part in Bob Geldof's "Feed The World"
project in December 1984. Sting sang on "Do
They Know It's Christmas?" – the single
recorded by Geldof's super-group "Band Aid"
that eventually led to the Live Aid concert
in July 1985, in which Sting also took part,
performing with Branford Marsalis, Phil Collins
and Dire Straits.
In 1988, he released the single "They Dance
Alone" which chronicled the plight of the
mothers, wives and daughters of the "disappeared",
the political opponents of the regime killed
by the Pinochet government in Chile. Unable
to publicly voice their grievances to the
government about their missing loved ones,
for fear that they would "go missing" too,
the women of Chile would pin photos of their
"disappeared" relatives on their clothing,
and dance in silent outrage against the government
in public places. Later, Sting would perform
the song on stage in Chile and Argentina,
dancing with some of those same women. He
has said it was one of the most moving moments
in his life.
With his wife Trudie Styler and Raoni Metuktire,
a Kayapó Indian leader in Brazil, Sting founded
the Rainforest Foundation Fund to help save
the rainforests and protect the rights of
the indigenous peoples living there. In 1989
he flew to the Altamira Gathering to give
a press conference offering his support while
promoting his charity. His support for these
causes continues to this day, and includes
an annual benefit concert held at New York's
Carnegie Hall with Billy Joel, Elton John,
James Taylor and other music superstars. A
species of Colombian tree frog, Dendropsophus
stingi, was named after him in recognition
of his "commitment and efforts to save the
rain forest".
On 21 October 1991, Sting joined Don Henley
and Billy Joel at New York's Madison Square
Garden for a benefit rock show, the Concert
for Walden Woods.
On 15 September 1997, Sting joined Sir Paul
McCartney, Eric Clapton, Sir Elton John, Phil
Collins and Mark Knopfler at London's Royal
Albert Hall for Music for Montserrat, a benefit
concert for the Caribbean island that had
recently been devastated by an eruption from
a volcano. Sting and his wife Trudie Styler
were awarded the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience
award in Sherborn, Massachusetts on 30 June
2000. Singer/song writer, documentary film
producers for their commitment to the environment
through the establishment of the Rainforest
Foundation; to human rights in China through
the documentary film on Tiananmen Square;
and to peace and social justice through the
powerful gift of song.
In September 2001, Sting also took part in
the post-9/11 rock telethon America: A Tribute
to Heroes singing "Fragile" to help raise
money for the families of the victims of terror
attacks in the United States. Sting lost a
close friend in the collapse of New York's
World Trade Center twin towers.
In February 2005, Sting performed at the Leeuwin
Estate Concert Series in Western Australia,
with the concert raising $4 million for the
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami relief
efforts.
On 2 July 2005, Sting performed a complete
set at the Live 8 concert, the follow-up to
1985's Live Aid concert.
In 2007, Sting joined Andy Summers and Stewart
Copeland and played the closing set at the
Live Earth concert at Giants Stadium in East
Rutherford, New Jersey. Joined by John Mayer
and Kanye West, Sting and the Police fittingly
ended the show singing "Message in a Bottle,"
as the event was dubbed "The SOS Concert."
In 2008 Sting contributed to an album called
Songs for Tibet, to support Tibet and the
current Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso.
On 22 January 2010, Sting performed "Driven
to Tears" during the global telethon Hope
for Haiti Now. On 25 April 2010, he performed
on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. during
the 40th anniversary celebration of Earth
Day.
In 2010, Sting became a Patron of the poverty
alleviation and beekeeping charity Bees for
Development
In 2011, Sting was among more than 30 signatories
to an open letter to British Prime Minister
David Cameron calling for the "immediate decriminalisation
of drug possession" if a policy review shows
it has failed. Sting was quoted: "Giving young
people criminal records for minor drug possession
serves little purpose – it is time to think
of more imaginative ways of addressing drug
use in our society."
On 4 July 2011, Sting cancelled a concert
appearance scheduled for the Astana Day Festival
in Astana, Kazakhstan. Amnesty International
convinced him to cancel the appearance, due
to concerns over the rights of Kazakh oil
and gas workers and their families. It was
later discovered that BGR Gabara "told undercover
reporters from the Bureau for Investigative
Journalism that it was proposing to the Kazakh
officials that they generate an "online social
media campaign" by Kazakh children who were
upset about the cancellation".
He is a patron of the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
On 2 November 2012, Sting appeared on Hurricane
Sandy: Coming Together and sang a solo acoustic/rock
version of "Message in a Bottle" to help raise
funds for the American Red Cross in support
of those affected by the storm which hit the
east coast of the United States earlier that
week. The show reportedly raised $23 million.
From 25 September through 9 October 2013,
Sting performed a series of benefit concerts
to raise funds for New York's Public Theater
and contributed over $2 million in support
of free performances at Shakespeare in the
Park. Sting and long time collaborators performed
songs from The Last Ship.
Personal life
Sting married actress Frances Tomelty from
Northern Ireland, on 1 May 1976. Before they
divorced in 1984, the couple had two children:
Joseph (born 23 November 1976) and Fuschia
Katherine (a.k.a. "Kate", born 17 April 1982).
In 1980, Sting became a tax exile and moved
to Galway in Ireland. In 1982, shortly after
the birth of his second child, Sting separated
from Tomelty and began living with actress
(and later film producer) Trudie Styler. The
couple eventually married on 22 August 1992
in an 11th-century chapel in Wiltshire, south-west
England. Sting and Styler have four children:
Brigitte Michael (a.k.a. "Mickey", born 19
January 1984), Jake (born 24 May 1985), Eliot
Pauline (nicknamed "Coco", born 30 July 1990),
and Giacomo Luke (born 17 December 1995).
Coco is the current singer and founder of
the London based group I Blame Coco. Giacomo
Luke is the inspiration behind the name of
Kentucky Derby-winning horse Giacomo.
Both of Sting's parents died from cancer in
the 1980s (his mother in 1986, and his father
in 1987). He did not, however, attend either
funeral stating that the media circus would
be disrespectful to his parents.
In 1995, Sting prepared for a court appearance
against his former accountant who had misappropriated
several million pounds of his money. Sting
owns several homes worldwide, including Elizabethan
manor house Lake House and its 60 acre country
estate near Salisbury, Wiltshire; a country
cottage in the Lake District; a New York City
flat; a beach house in Malibu; a 600-acre
(2.4 km2) estate in Tuscany, Italy; and two
properties in London: a flat on the Mall,
and an 18th-century terrace house in Highgate.
Sting was estimated to have a fortune of £180
million in the Sunday Times Rich List of 2011,
making him one of the 10 richest people in
the British music industry.
To keep physically fit, for years Sting ran
five miles (8 km) a day and performed aerobics.
He participated in running races at Parliament
Hill and charity runs similar to the British
10K. Around 1990 he met Danny Paradise who
introduced him to yoga, and he later began
practising regularly. His practice consisted
primarily of an Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga series,
though now he practices Tantra and Jivamukti
Yoga as well. He wrote a foreword to the book
Yoga Beyond Belief, written by Ganga White
in 2007. In 2008 he was reported to be a practitioner
of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's Transcendental
Meditation technique.
An avid chess player, Sting played Garry Kasparov
in an exhibition game in 2000, along with
four bandmates: Dominic Miller, Jason Rebello,
Chris Botti and Russ Irwin. Kasparov beat
all five simultaneously within 50 minutes.
Formerly eating only animals that he brought
up himself, Sting now adheres to a macrobiotic
diet.
In 1969 Sting read the Gormenghast trilogy
by Mervyn Peake and became a passionate fan.
He later bought the film rights to the books,
and also named household pets, a racehorse,
his publishing company, and even one of his
daughters (Fuchsia) after characters from
the books.
Sting is a supporter of his hometown football
team Newcastle United, and in 2009, backed
a Newcastle United Supporters' campaign against
the controversial plan of owner Mike Ashley
to sell off the naming rights to St James'
Park.
When asked about his religious beliefs in
a 2011 interview with Time, Sting stated:
"I'm essentially agnostic. I don't have a
problem with God. I have a problem with religion.
I've chosen to live my life without the certainties
of religious faith. I think they're dangerous.
Music is something that gives my life value
and spiritual solace."
Discography
The Police
Outlandos d'Amour (1978)
Reggatta de Blanc (1979)
Zenyatta Mondatta (1980)
Ghost in the Machine (1981)
Synchronicity (1983)
Solo
The Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985)
...Nothing Like the Sun (1987)
The Soul Cages (1991)
Ten Summoner's Tales (1993)
Mercury Falling (1996)
Brand New Day (1999)
Sacred Love (2003)
Songs from the Labyrinth (2006)
If on a Winter's Night... (2009)
Symphonicities (2010)
The Last Ship (2013)
Bibliography
2009 The Words and Music of Sting, Christopher
Gable, Praeger, ISBN 978-0-275-99360-3
2007 Lyrics by – Sting, Simon & Schuster,
ISBN 978-1-84737-167-6
2003 Autobiography Broken Music, Simon & Schuster,
ISBN 0-7434-5081-7
2005 Biography Sting and I, James Berryman,
John Blake, ISBN 1-84454-107-X
2000 Authorised biography A Sting in the Tale,
James Berryman, Mirage Publishing, ISBN 1-902578-13-9
1998 Biography Sting – Demolition Man, Christopher
Sandford, Little, Brown and Company, ISBN
0-316-64372-6
Awards and nominations
