Sting

Sting, born in 1951, British singer, songwriter, and actor, who gained popularity as the lead singer for the British rock trio the Police during the late 1970s and early 1980s (see Rock Music). Sting is also regarded for his subsequent career as a solo recording artist, bandleader, and actor.

Born Gordon Sumner in Wallsend, England, Sting received training in classical piano and taught himself to play the guitar as a child. While pursuing a career in teaching, he played the bass in jazz groups and began singing. In 1977, however, he turned to music as a full-time profession.

With drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Henry Padovani, who was replaced almost immediately by guitarist Andy Summers, Sting formed the group the Police in 1978. Their first hit song, “Roxanne” (1978), was written and sung by Sting, as were all the group’s subsequent hits, such as “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” (1981), which won a Grammy Award in 1982. The Police’s albums include Outlandos d’Amour (1978), Zenyatta Mondatta (1980), and their biggest hit, Synchronicity (1983). Synchronicity includes the song “Every Breath You Take,” which became a number-one hit on the Billboard magazine pop-music charts and won the 1983 Grammy Award for song of the year. After a world tour in 1984 the Police broke up. They briefly reunited in 1986 for the Amnesty International tour that same year.

In 1985 Sting formed a band of top jazz musicians, the Blue Turtles, and released the solo album Dream of the Blue Turtles (1985). A motion-picture documentary of Sting and his group, Bring on the Night, was filmed the same year. Sting’s other solo albums include Nothing Like the Sun (1987), The Soul Cages (1991), Ten Summoner's Tales (1993), Mercury Falling (1996), Brand New Day (1999), …All This Time (2001), Sacred Love (2003), and Songs from the Labyrinth (2006). He has won numerous Grammy Awards, including one in 1994 for the hit single “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You,” from Ten Summoner's Tales. He has also acted in a number of motion pictures, including Brimstone and Treacle (1982), Dune (1984), and Plenty (1985).

Active in politics, Sting toured as a solo performer with Amnesty International in 1988 and became involved in efforts to save the Brazilian rain forest in 1990. In 2003 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and published a volume of memoirs, Broken Music. In 2007 the Police reunited for a performance at the Grammy Awards and announced that they would tour North America later that year.