Sting

Gordon Matthew Sumner, CBE (born October 2, 1951), usually known by his stage name Sting, is an English musician from Newcastle upon Tyne. Prior to a distinguished solo career, he was the lead singer, principal composer and bassist of the 1970s/1980s rock band The Police.

Biography

Sumner was born in Wallsend, near Newcastle upon Tyne, in North-East England to Audrey (a Protestant) and Ernest Sumner (a Catholic via his own mother, Agnes White, whose father was an Irish stevedore). Ernest was a milkman, and raised his children as Roman Catholics. From an early age, Sumner knew that he wanted to be a musician. He attended St Cuthbert's grammar School, in Newcastle upon Tyne, and then the University of Warwick, but did not graduate. From 1971 to 1974, he attended Northern Counties Teacher Training College. He is the oldest of four children and has a brother, Philip, and two sisters, Angela and Anita. Philip owns a pub in Newcastle, Angela works for British Airways, and Anita is an artist. Both Audrey and Ernest Sumner died of cancer, but Sting did not (or could not) attend either funeral.

Before playing music professionally, Sumner worked as a ditch digger and a music teacher at a Catholic primary school. His first music gigs were wherever he could get a job. He played with local jazz bands such as the Phoenix Jazzmen and Last Exit. He has stated that he gained his nickname while with the Jazzmen. He once performed wearing a black and yellow jersey with hooped stripes that fellow band member Gordon Solomon had noted made him look like a bumblebee, thus he became "Sting." He uses Sting almost exclusively, except on official documents.

The Police

In 1977, Sting, Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers formed the rock/pop band The Police in London. The group had several chart topping albums and won six Grammy Awards in the early 1980s. Although they jumped on the punk bandwagon early in their career, they soon abandoned that sound in favor of reggae-tinged rock and minimalist pop. Their last album, Synchronicity which included one of their most successful songs, Every Breath You Take, was released in 1983.

The Police performed together at some of the shows on the 1986 Amnesty International A Conspiracy of Hope Tour alongside U2 and other artists. Their performances were just for the benefit shows and were not part of an intended permanent reunion. To help promote a greatest hits album that year they also made a re-recording of a new arrangement of one of their hits "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" as a special bonus track to be included on the album.

Solo

In September 1981, Sting made his first-ever solo live performance performing on all four nights of the fourth Amnesty International benefit The Secret Policeman's Other Ball at the invitation of producer Martin Lewis. He perfomed 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 included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Phil Collins and Bob Geldof all of whom (except Beck) later worked together on "Live Aid". His performances were prominently featured in the album and movie of the show and drew major critical attention for Sting. 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 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 twenty hit.

1985's The Dream of the Blue Turtles, featuring a star-studded cast of jazz musicians, was Sting's first solo album. It included the hit single "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free". Within a year, it reached Triple Platinum. He also sang the introduction and chorus to "Money for Nothing", a groundbreaking song by Dire Straits. Sting released Nothing Like the Sun (1987), including the hit songs "We'll Be Together" and "Be Still My Beating Heart", dedicated to his recently deceased mother. It eventually went Double Platinum and was recognized as one of the most important rock & roll albums of the 1980s. Soon thereafter, in February of 1988, he released Nada Como el Sol — a selection of five songs from Nothing Like the Sun sung (by Sting himself) in Spanish and Portuguese.

Throughout the 1980s, Sting strongly supported environmentalism and humanitarian movements, such as Amnesty International. With long-time girlfriend Trudie Styler and Raoni Metuktire, a Kayapó Indian leader in Brazil, he founded the Rainforest Foundation to help save the rainforests. His support for these causes continues to this day.

His most high-profile contribution to the human rights cause came in 1988, when he joined a team of major musicians and rising stars — including Peter Gabriel and Bruce Springsteen — assembled under the banner of Amnesty International for the 6-week world Human Rights Now! Tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Sting's 1991 album The Soul Cages was dedicated to his recently deceased father and included the top 10 song "All this Time" and the Grammy winning "Soul Cages". 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 1993, he released the album Ten Summoner's Tales, which went Triple Platinum in just over a year. The hit single "Fields of Gold" has since become a "standard", and very well known via versions by Eva Cassidy and Verity Keays.

In May 1993, he released a remix of the classic Police song from the Ghost In The Machine album, "Demolition Man" for the Demolition Man film, starring Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock and Benjamin Bratt.

Sting reached a pinnacle of success in 1994. Together with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart, they performed the chart-topping song "All For Love" from 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. Finally in November, he released a greatest hits compilation called Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting, which was eventually certified Double Platinum.

Sting's 1996 album, Mercury Falling debuted strongly, but dropped quickly on the charts. Yet, 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). (Sting was also featured on Toby Keith's country cover-version of "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying", on Keith's 1997 Dream Walkin' album.) In 1998, he appeared in the Guy Ritchie film Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

Sting made a (partial) comeback with the September 1999 album Brand New Day, including the Top 40 hits "Brand New Day" and "Desert Rose" (Top 10). 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 Cheb Mami. For his performance, the Arab-American Institute Foundation gave him the Kahlil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Award.

In February 2001, he added another Grammy to his collection. His song "After The Rain Has Fallen" made it into the Top 40. On September 11, he recorded a new live album in Italy, but the Internet simulcast was canceled after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack. Later, Sting performed "Fragile" for the fundraiser America: A Tribute to Heroes. His live album, All This Time, recorded on a moonlit night in Tuscany, was released in November but did not generate healthy sales. All This Time featured jazzy reworkings of Sting favorites such as "Roxanne" and "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free".

2002 was a year of awards for Sting. He won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for his second Academy Award for his song "Until..." from the film Kate & Leopold. In June, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Late in the year, it was announced that The Police would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March 2003. In the summer, Sumner was awarded the "CBE" - the Commander of the British Empire.

Sting kicked off 2003 with a performance during the Super Bowl's half time show. During that performance Sting performed a duet with Gwen Stefani of "Message in a Bottle". 2003 also saw the release of Sacred Love, an original studio album with racier beats and experiments collaborating with hip-hop artist Mary J. Blige and sitar maestro Anoushka Shankar. His autobiography Broken Music was published in October. Sting embarked on a Sacred Love tour in 2004 with performances by Annie Lennox. Also in 2004, his song "You Will Be My Ain True Love" for the Cold Mountain soundtrack was an Oscar nominee, and was performed at the awards by Alison Krauss, with Sting accompanying on a hurdy-gurdy.

Personal life

Sting married actress Frances Tomelty, a Catholic from Northern Ireland, on May 1, 1976. The couple had two children, Joseph (born 1976), and Fuchsia Katherine (born 1982), before they divorced in 1984. 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, but the two did not marry until 1992. Sting and Trudie have four children: Bridget Michaela (aka "Mickey", born 1984), Jake (born 1985), Eliot Paulina ("Coco," born 1990), and Giacomo Luke (born 1995). Sting's lookalike son Joseph is following in his father's musical footsteps and is a member of the band, Fiction Plane. [1] Although Sting also owns properties in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, and Malibu, California, he currently calls Tuscany his home.

It is unclear whether he was serious or not when he referred to himself as manic-depressive. He has written a song entitled "Lithium Sunset" which appears to refer to lithium carbonate, a treatment for the disorder. According to some reports, he did this because he wanted to help people who really have this disease. In an interview given by Sting, he also referred to what he believed was the natural occurrence of lithium in the brain when one views a sunset, but this may have been a confusion with endorphins. Although Sting was long reputed to be a devotee of tantric sex, he has more recently claimed that it was an interview prank, or a dinner-party joke that took on a life of its own.

To keep physically fit, for years Sting ran (5 miles a day) and did aerobics. However, around 1990 he met Danny Paradise who introduced him to yoga. Soon after, Sting began a regular yoga practice. His practice consists primarily of a Ashtanga Vinyasa series, though he has experimented with other forms.

In early 2005, Sting proclaimed that he admires Hinduism, wants to spend a lot more time in India and that he loves Indian culture. His words in an interview were:

In a sense I am more of a Hindu... I like the Hindu religion more than anything else at the moment I have become addicted to India ... I would want to spend the rest of my life discovering your beautiful country. [2]

Trivia

• In his Live8 performance he changed the lyrics to his song 'Every Breath You Take' from "I'll be watching you” to "we'll be watching you" — meant for the men of the G8.

• Sting was also the inspiration for the comic book character John Constantine (from Hellblazer).

• The prologue to the Dire Straits' recording "Money for Nothing" that features Sting singing the words "I want my MTV" was at the invitation of Dire Straits leader Mark Knopfler. Sting came up with the musical motif to use for the words - and it was (probably consciously) musically identical to the melody line in his own Police song "Don't Stand So Close To Me" from the album Zenyatta Mondatta. Even though the prologue only occupies a few seconds at the start of the recording - Sting's music publisher Virgin Music insisted that Sting be credited (and paid) as though he had written half of the entire song. Sting and Knopfler remained friends despite this difference between their two music publishers and the fact that half of the writer's share of Knopfler's biggest hit goes to Sting for a contribution of just six musical notes out of the entire song.

• Sting also made a cameo appearance in the movie, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen [3].

• The song "Russians" from The Dream of the Blue Turtles utilized a theme by Russian composer Sergei Prokofiev. Sting's fondness for Prokofiev manifested itself subsequently when he served as narrator for Peter and the Wolf: A Prokofiev Fantasy [4] - one of the many versions of Prokofiev's "Peter and the Wolf" that have been recorded by celebrities.

• He appeared as himself in an episode of The Simpsons, taking part in the charity song for a boy who supposedly fell down a well, "We're Sending Our Love Down The Well".

• Sting's song "Desert Rose" was used in many Jaguar commercials because of the fact that he drove a Jaguar during Desert Rose's music video. The song is still widely associated with Jaguar.

• A Colombian tree frog was named for him in appreciation of his environmental activities: Hyla stingi. [5]

• Was at one time close to becoming Gil Farrington in a motion picture of the same name, until Sir Ridley Scott terminated the project.

• Sting famously claimed to have had tantric sex with his wife for 24 hours.

• Sting was nominated for Academy Award for his song "You Will Be My Ain True Love" from the movie "Cold Mountain" performed by Alison Krauss.

• Sting's song "Desert Rose" is also used as XM Satellite Radio's technical difficulties music.

• Sting, who had a small acting career, had a small part in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back as an AT-AT Commander.

Discography

(Albums released after going solo.)

• 1985 The Dream of the Blue Turtles #3 UK, #2 US, US Sales: 3,000,000
• 1986 Bring On the Night #16 UK
• 1987 Nothing Like the Sun #1 UK, #9 US, US Sales: 2,000,000
• 1988 Nada Como el Sol
• 1991 Soul Cages #1 UK, #2 US, US Sales: 1,000,000
• 1993 Ten Summoner's Tales #2 UK, #2 US, US Sales: 3,000,000
• 1994 Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994 #2 UK, #7 US, US Sales: 2,000,000
• 1996 Mercury Falling #4 UK, #5 US, US Sales: 1,000,000
• 1997 The Very Best of Sting & The Police #1 UK, #46 US (both positions for the 2002 re-issue)
• 1999 Brand New Day #5 UK, #9 US, US Sales: 3,000,000
• 1999 At the Movies (Japanese release)
• 2001 All This Time (live) #3 UK, #32 US, US Sales: 500,000
• 2003 Sacred Love #3 UK, #3 US, US Sales: 1,000,000

Singles

From Ten Summoner's Tales

• 1992 "It's Probably Me" (with Eric Clapton) #30 UK
• 1993 "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" #14 UK, #17 US
• 1993 "Seven Days" #25 UK
• 1993 "Fields of Gold" #16 UK, #23 US

Non-album single; soundtrack from the film of the same name

• 1993 "Demolition Man" #21 UK

From The Three Musketeers soundtrack

• 1994 "All for Love" (with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart) #2 UK, #1 US

From Ten Summoner's Tales

• 1994 "Nothing 'Bout Me" #32 UK

From Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994

• 1994 "When We Dance" #9 UK, #38 US
• 1995 "This Cowboy Song" (feat. Pato Banton) #15 UK

From Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls soundtrack

• 1996 "Spirits in the Material World" (Pato Banton feat. Sting) #36 UK

From Mercury Falling

• 1996 "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot" #15 UK, #86 US
• 1996 "You Still Touch Me" #27 UK, #60 US
• 1996 "I Was Brought to My Senses" #31 UK
• 1996 "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" #94 US

From The Very Best of Sting & The Police

• 1997 "Roxanne '97" (remix) (with The Police) #17 UK, #59 US

From Brand New Day

• 1999 "Brand New Day" #13 UK, #100 US
• 2000 "Desert Rose" (feat. Cheb Mami) #15 UK, #17 US
• 2000 "After the Rain Has Fallen" #31 UK

From Slicker Than Your Average (Craig David album)

• 2003 "Rise & Fall" (Craig David feat. Sting) #2 UK

From Sacred Love

• 2003 "Send Your Love" #30 UK
• 2003 "Whenever I Say Your Name (ft. Mary J. Blidge)" #60 UK
• 2004 "Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing)" #60 UK

From the Racing Stripes soundtrack

• 2005 "Taking the Inside Rail" #? US, #? UK

Acting career

Sting has occasionally ventured into acting. He made his film debut with 1979's Quadrophenia.

Notable roles include:

• Ace The Face, the King of The Mods, aka The Bell Boy in the movie adaptation of The Who album Quadrophenia (1979)
• Martin Taylor, a drifter in Brimstone and Treacle (1982)
• Feyd-Rautha in the movie Dune (1984)
• Mick, a black-marketeer in Plenty (1985)
• Baron Frankenstein in The Bride (1985)
• An "heroic officer" in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
• Finney, a nightclub owner in Stormy Monday (1988)
• The voice of Zarm on Captain Planet and the Planeteers, a 1990s television show.
• JD, Eddie's father and owner of a bar, in Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)

Sting has also made appearances on television (including guest spots on The Simpsons and Ally McBeal) and the stage. Most of his later film and TV credits are for his music.