About Sting
Sting, who was born Gordon Sumner, spent his high school years sneaking into bars and clubs to see bands play. Witnessing the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Cream, among others, proved critical to his evolution as a person and a budding musician.
Despite his passion, Sumner spent a number of years in search of a career, eventually getting trained to work as a teacher. In his off time, he could be found jamming with various jazz bands.
Sumner earned the moniker of Sting while he was playing with the Phoenix Jazzmen. It seems one day he came in sporting a black and yellow striped sweater, looking rather much like a bumble bee.
In 1977, Sting headed to London where he would meet Stewart Copeland and Henry Padovani and, together, they would become The Police. Andy Summers soon replaced Padovani, and the rest is rock history. During a solid five-year run between 1978 and 1983, the Police racked up five hit records and six Grammy Awards.
Synchronicity, which dropped in 1983, turned out to be (or seemed to be) the end of the road. The group never officially called it a day, but the members each set out on their solo careers.
Sting had actually already stuck a toe in the solo waters when he performed at a 1981 Amnesty International benefit. The event was a harbinger for both Sting's solo work and his future as an activist. Band Aid and Live Aid would later be added to his roster of benefit concert affiliations.
In 1985, Sting released The Dream of the Blue Turtles. The album's liner notes were filled with jazz heavyweights like Branford Marsalis. Selling over three million copies, the record spawned quite a few hits including the indelible “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free” and “Fortress Around Your Heart.”
With some extracurricular collaborations under his belt, Sting set forth ...Nothing Like the Sun in 1987. Two million more units flew off the shelves and more singles climbed the charts. Choosing five cuts from the record, Sting released an in 1988 that was recorded in both Spanish and Portugese. That same year saw him lay down vocals on Frank Zappa's "Murder By Numbers.”
Sting's mojo stayed rolling with his subsequent works, The Soul Cages and Ten Summoner's Tales, bringing along more chart and sales success, as well as some Grammy admiration. In 1993, Sting, along with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart, held the number one single for five weeks with “All for Love,” a song for the film The Three Musketeers.
Sting's Mercury Falling set in 1996 was one of his first commercial misfires. Following that, his contributions to a Disney film, The Emperor's New Groove, were cut after a long, bitter battle. Turning lemons into lemonade, Sting's wife, Trudie Styler, shot footage of the process and made a documentary out of it. Titled The Sweatbox, the film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, though it never received a broader audience due to Disney's involvement.
With 1999's Brand New Day, Sting was back in triple-platinum, Grammy-winning form. Stevie Wonder and Cheb Mami both appeared on the record, with Mami also performing at the 2000 Grammy ceremony alongside Sting.
On September 11, 2001, Sting had gathered an audience at his Tuscan villa for a live CD/DVD recording that was also set to be simulcast on the Internet. Due to the events of the day, only one song -- “Fragile” -- was broadcast. Sting polled the audience as to whether or not the recording should continue and they voted yes.
The following year was a good one for Sting. Earning both a Golden Globe Award and an Oscar nomination for his song “Until...” from the movie Kate and Leopold, Sting also gained entry into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 2003, collaborations were the order of the day, including a Grammy-winning duet with Mary J. Blige, "Whenever I Say Your Name," and a piece with Anoushka Shankar for his Sacred Love CD.
The year continued with the Police being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. An autobiography was also published title Broken Music. To bring all of that to his fans, Sting set out with Annie Lennox on the Sacred Love Tour following up with the Broken Music Tour that hit mostly clubs and colleges.
Although Songs from the Labyrinth was released in 2006, the work was brushed aside as rumors of a Police reunion started to emerge. Indeed, the rumors were true and the newly reunited trio kicked off the 2007 Grammy Awards. They also launched the year-long, worldwide Police Reunion Tour.
Sting and Wonder performed “Brand New Day” as part of the festivities on President Barack Obama's inauguration night. After that, Sting hunkered down to focus on recording and releasing If on a Winter's Night... The album saw daylight in October of that year and met with mixed reviews from fans and critics, alike.
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