Sting

Gordon Matthew Sumner, CBE (born October 2, 1951), best known by his stage name Sting, is an English musician and formerly bassist and lead singer of The Police.

Biography

Sumner was born in Newcastle, England to Audrey and Ernie, a milkman. From an early age, he knew that he wanted to be a musician. He attended the University of Warwick in Coventry, but did not graduate. From 1971 to 1974, he attended Northern Counties Teacher Training College.

Before playing music professionally, Sumner worked as a ditch digger and a teacher of English. 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. It is most likely that he gained his nickname while with the Jazzmen. He once performed wearing a black and yellow striped jersey that fellow band member Gordon Solomon had noted made him look like a bee, thus he became Sting. He uses Sting almost exclusively, except on official documents.
Sting circa 1987

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, including their arguably best well-known song, Every Breath You Take. Their last album, Synchronicity was released in 1983. The Police attempted a reunion in 1986 with re-recording of their song "Don't Stand So Close to Me", but did not stay together.

Sting has occasionally ventured into acting. He made his film debut in 1979's Quadrophenia. Apart from playing a devil-like character in Brimstone and Treacle (1982), one of his more famous roles was that of Feyd-Rautha in the 1984 film adaptation of Dune. More recently, he appeared in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. He has also made appearances on television (including guest spots on The Simpsons and Ally McBeal) and stage. Most of his later credits in films and TV are for his music.

1985's The Dream of the Blue Turtles 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. 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.

In the late 1980s, Sting strongly supported environmentalism and humanitarian movements, including Amnesty International. With long-time girlfriend Trudie Styler and 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 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. In May, he released a remix of The Police's song "Demolition Man" for the Demolition Man film.

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). In 1998, he appeared in the 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.

Sting kicked off 2001 with a performance during the Super Bowl's half time show. He added another Grammy to his collection in February. In April, while landing in Italy, his plane skidded off the runway, but he was not injured. 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 terrorist attack on New York. 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 gather healthy sales figures. All This Time featured jazzy reworkings of Sting favorites like "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.

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. Some songs like "Inside" and "Dead Man's Rope" were well received, but overall the sounds suffer from a repetitiveness that lead many to believe that Sting is past his best.

Sting married actress Frances Tomelty in 1976. The couple had two children before their divorce in 1982. Soon after, he began living with actress (and later film producer) Trudie Styler but did not marry until 1992. Sting and Trudie have had four children. His son with Frances, Joseph, is following in his father's footsteps as a musician. Though Sting reportedly owns several properties in the United Kingdom and the United States, he currently calls Tuscany his home.

It is unclear whether he was serious or (rather) not when he referred to himself as "manic-depressive". He has written also a song entitled "Lithium Sunset", which appears to refer to lithium carbonate, a treatment for the disorder. According to some reports he wanted so to help people which have this disease really.

In the summer of 2003, Sumner was made a Commander in the Order of the British Empire. Later that year, he published his autobiography, Broken Music.

Also in 2003, Sumner was placed 81st on the 100 Worst Britons list by polls conducted by Britain's Channel Four.

Sting embarked on a Sacred Love tour in 2004 with performances by Annie Lennox.

Discography

1985 "The Dream of 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: 500,000

Hit singles

from Brimstone and Treacle soundtrack
1982 "Spread a Little Happiness" #16 UK

from The Dream of Blue Turtles
1985 "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" #26 UK, #3 US
1985 "Russians" #12 UK, #16 US
1985 "Fortress Around Your Heart" #8 US
1985 "Love Is the Seventh Wave" #17 US

from Nothing Like the Sun
1987 "We'll Be Together" #7 US
1988 "Be Still My Beating Heart" #15 US
1990 "Englishman In New York" (remix) #15 UK

from The Soul Cages
1991 "All This Time" #22 UK, #5 US

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
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
1996 "You Still Touch Me" #27 UK
1996 "I Was Brought to My Senses" #31 UK

from The Very Best of Sting & The Police
1997 "Roxanne '97" (remix) (with The Police) #17 UK

from Brand New Day
1999 "Brand New Day" #13 UK
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