Sting - Musicians
Summary
"Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner", CBE (born 2 October, 1951), universally known by his stage name "Sting", is an English musician from Newcastle upon Tyne. Prior to starting his solo career, he was the principal composer, lead singer and bass player of the rock band The Police.
Biography
Early life
Sumner was born in Wallsend, near Newcastle upon Tyne in northeast England (The Biography Channel - Sting Biography) , to Audrey Cowell and her husband, Ernest Sumner. He is the eldest of four children--himself, a brother, Philip, and two sisters, Angela and Anita. His father managed a dairy; young Gordon would often assist his father with the early morning milk delivery rounds. Sumner was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition, due to the influence of his Irish paternal grandmother.
He attended St. Cuthbert's Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne, and then the University of Warwick in Coventry, which he left after only one term. During this time, he would often sneak into nightclubs like the Club-A-Go-Go. Here, he would watch acts such as Jack Bruce and Jimi Hendrix who would later influence his music. After jobs as a bus conductor, a construction labourer, and a tax officer, he attended Northern Counties Teachers' Training College, which later became part of Northumbria University, from 1971 to 1974. He then worked as a teacher at St. Paul's First School in Cramlington for two years.
From an early age, Sumner knew that he wanted to be a musician.
His first music gigs were wherever he could get a job, performing evenings, weekends, and during vacations from college and teaching. He played with local jazz bands such as the Phoenix Jazzmen, the Newcastle Big Band, and Last Exit.
Origin of nickname
Sting has stated that he gained his nickname while with the Phoenix Jazzmen. He once performed wearing a black and yellow jersey with hooped stripes that bandleader Gordon Solomon had noted made him look like a bumblebee; thus Sumner became 'Sting.' He uses Sting almost exclusively, except on official documents. In a press conference filmed in the movie "Bring on the Night", he jokingly stated when referred to by a journalist as Gordon, 'My children call me Sting, my mother calls me Sting, who is this Gordon character?'
The Police
In January 1977, Sting moved from Newcastle 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.
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. Another popular song of the Police is 'Don't Stand So Close to Me' which made number 1.
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, increasingly dismissed the possibility of reforming. In 2007, however, the band reformed and announced 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 at the invitation of producer Martin Lewis. He performed solo versions of 'Roxanne' and 'Message in a Bottle', playing the guitar.
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 Sting major critical attention. Sumner'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 a 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
Sting's first solo album, 1985's "The Dream of the Blue Turtles", featured a cast of accomplished jazz musicians, including Kenny Kirkland, Darryl Jones, Omar Hakim, and Branford Marsalis. It included the hit single 'If You Love Somebody Set Them Free'. The single included a fan favorite non-LP track titled 'Another Day'. The album also yielded the hits 'Fortress Around Your Heart', 'Russians', and 'Love is the Seventh Wave'. Within a year, it reached Triple Platinum. This album would help Sting garner a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. The film and video 'Bring On The Night' documented the formation of the band and its first concert in France.
Also in 1985, he sang the introduction and chorus to 'Money for Nothing', a groundbreaking song by Dire Straits (because he reused his melody from The Police hit Don't Stand So Close to Me for his vocal parts, he was given co-writer status and receives royalties based on his somewhat minor performance. It is one of only two shared songwriting credits on any Dire Straits album). He performed this song with Dire Straits at the Live Aid Concert at Wembley Stadium. Sting also provided a short guest vocal performance on the Miles Davis album "You're Under Arrest". He also sang backing vocals in Arcadia's single 'The Promise' from their only album, 'So Red The Rose'. 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".
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 recently-deceased mother. 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.
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. Sting was also involved in two other recordings in the late 1980s, the first in 1987 with noted 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
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. "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 wordplay on his surname, Sumner and Geoffrey Chaucer's classic The Canterbury Tales The single, 'Fields of Gold' had moderate success on radio airways. 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, Sting released a cover of his own classic Police song from the "Ghost in the Machine" album, '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. In November, he released a greatest hits compilation called "Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting", which eventually was certified Double Platinum.
Sting's 1996 album, "Mercury Falling" debuted strongly with the single Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot, but it 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) (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 was well ahead of its time in providing music, commentary and custom computer features describing Sting and his music from his perspective.
Also in 1996, Sting provided some vocals for the Tina Turner single On Silent Wings as a part of her Wildest Dreams album, this peaked at #13 in the UK.
'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.
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. This is seen by many as a move on Disney's part to soothe the relationship with Sting and to keep open the door for future projects. 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 Kahlil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Award. However, Sting was criticised for appearing in a Jaguar advertisement using 'Desert Rose' as its backing track, particularly as he was a notable environmentalist.
In February 2001 he won another Grammy. 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, 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, however, was scheduled for September 11, 2001 and due to the terrorist attacks in America that day, the project was altered in various ways. 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.
In 2002 Sting won a Golden Globe Award and in June, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In the summer, Sting was awarded the honour of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). In 2003 he released "Sacred Love", a studio album featuring collaborations with hip-hop artist Mary J. Blige and sitar maestro Anoushka Shankar. He and Blige won a Grammy for their duet, 'Whenever I Say Your Name.' The album did not have the hit singles like his previous releases. The first single, 'Send Your Love' reached only #30 and reviews were mixed. However, the album did reach platinum status by January 2004.
His autobiography "Broken Music" was published in October. Sting 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 (album)" 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 Mondo' by Latino recording legends 'The Buena Vista Sound' (previously known as the Buena Vista Social Club) available via www.apeuk.org.
In October 2006, Sting 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. (Evanescence, OutKast lead busy fall releases, Reuters/Billboard, Jul 29, 2006.) 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 bandmates for a 30th anniversary tour. These rumours were confirmed by posts on the popular fanzine "Stingus" and on various other newswebsites such as De Standaard, Yahoo! etc.
In May 2007, Deutsche Grammophon releases the opera Welcome to the Voice composer Steve Nieve), with Sting portraying the main character, Dyonisos.
On February 11, 2007, Sting 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 May 28 in front of 22,000 fans at one of two nearly sold-out concerts. The Police will be on tour for approximately a year, beginning with North America and eventually crossing over to Europe, South America, Australia & New Zealand and Japan.
Acting career
Sting occasionally has ventured into acting. Notable film roles include:
The Ace Face, the King of The Mods, a.k.a. The Bell Boy in the movie adaptation of The Who album "Quadrophenia" (1979)
Martin Taylor, a drifter in "Brimstone and Treacle" (1982)
Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in the movie "Dune" (1984)
Mick, a black-marketeer in "Plenty" (1985)
Baron Frankenstein in "The Bride" (1985)
Himself in the documentary film "Bring on the Night" (1985)
A 'heroic officer' in "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen" (1988)
Finney, a nightclub owner in "Stormy Monday" (1988)
Daniel, a British gentleman in "Julia and Julia" (1988)
Fledge in "The Grotesque" (1995), in which he appears nude
Himself on "The Simpsons" episode 'Radio Bart' (1992)
J.D., Eddie's father and owner of a bar, in "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" (1998)
Himself on the "Vicar of Dibley" Comic Relief special (2007)
Himself in "Bee Movie"
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" (currently available from WWF-UK). Other appearances on the stage and television include guest spots on "Saturday Night Live" and "Ally McBeal". 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 the The Threepenny Opera, the classic 1928 German musical work by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill in New York and Washington. He most recently appeared as a musical guest on the fictional series "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip".
Sting appeared on the television sitcom Ally McBeal as himself, being sued for appearing to sing to a fan by the fan's husband. Because of Sting's schedule, this suit forced his lawyer, Larry Paul, to dedicate the day to him causing him to stay away from his girlfriend, Ally, on her birthday.
Activism
While with the Police, Sting wrote 'Driven to Tears,' an angry indictment of apathy in the face of world hunger, and it preceded his work on Sir Bob Geldof's 'Feed The World' project. Sting sang on 'Do They Know It's Christmas?' -- a hit single from Geldof's pop music super-group called 'Band Aid' which eventually led to the Live Aid Concert in July of 1985, in which Sting also took part, performing with Branford Marsalis, Phil Collins, and with the group Dire Straits.
Throughout the 1980s, Sting strongly supported environmentalism and humanitarian movements, such as Amnesty International. In 1986 he was interviewed by the BBC 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.'
Sting's first involvement in the human rights cause occurred 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. (... more) 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 - his first live appearances as a solo performer - was prominently featured on the album of the show (being its lead tracks) and in the film. In 1986, Sting was one of the headline performers on Amnesty's Conspiracy Of Hope tour of the US.
The summit of his many contributions to the human-rights cause came in 1988, when 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 world tour Human Rights Now! Tour celebrating the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
In 1988, he released the single 'They Dance Alone' which chronicled the plight of the mothers, wives and daughters of the 'disappeared', the innocent victims of the Pinochet regime 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.
With his wife Trudie Styler and Raoni Metuktire, a Kayapó Indian leader in Brazil, Sting founded the Rainforest Foundation to help save the rainforests. 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' (Kaplan 1994).
In the early 1990s, Sting performed with Don Henley and Billy Joel in New York's Madison Square Garden at The Concert for Walden Woods. He also took part in the post-9-11 rock telethon to raise money for the families of the victims of terror attacks in the United States, and performed at the Live 8 concert, the follow up to 1985's Live Aid Concert.
Sting is known to support cannabis reclassification in the United Kingdom. Following Tony Blair's intention to revoke the rescheduling of cannabis executed in January 2006, he has joined a list of prominent figures who have written to the Prime Minister urging him to keep cannabis as a class C drug. (... more)
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 1976) and Fuchsia Katherine (a.k.a. 'Kate', born 1982). Joe is following in his father's musical footsteps and is a member of the band Fiction Plane.
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 in 1992. Sting and Styler have four children: Bridget Michael (a.k.a. 'Mickey,' born 1984), Jake (born 1985), Eliot Pauline (nicknamed 'Coco', born 1990), and Giacomo Luke (born 1995).
Both of Sting's parents died from cancer in 1987. He did not, however, attend either funeral stating that the media fuss would be disrespectful to his parents.
Sumner owns several homes worldwide, including Elizabethan manor house Lake House and its 60-acre country estate in Wiltshire, England, a country cottage in the Lake District, a New York City apartment, a beach house in Malibu, California, a 600-acre estate in Tuscany, Italy, and two properties in London: an apartment on the Mall and an 18th century terrace house in Highgate. (... more) According to an interview he did for German television broadcaster NDR in 1996, Sting chose a tree on the Lake House estate beside which he wishes to be buried someday.
To keep physically fit, for years Sting ran five miles a day, and performed aerobics. He participated in running races at Parliament Hill and charity runs similar to the British 10K. However, around 1990 he met Danny Paradise who introduced him to yoga. Soon after, Sting began practicing yoga regularly. His practice consists primarily of an Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga series, though he has experimented with other forms. He has practiced with notable teachers: K. Patthabi Jois, Sharon Gannon, David Life, Maty Ezraty, James Brown, and Seane Corn. Although Sting famously claimed to have had long bouts of tantric sex with his wife, he has more recently said that it was a dinner-party joke that took on a life of its own.
Discography
Albums
"The Dream of the Blue Turtles" (1985) UK #3, USA #2 Worldwide Sales: 5 million
"...Nothing Like the Sun" (1987) UK #1, USA #9 Worldwide Sales: 4.5 million
"The Soul Cages" (1991) UK #1, USA #2 Worldwide Sales: 4 million
"Ten Summoner's Tales" (1993) UK #2, USA #2 Worldwide Sales: 4 million
"Mercury Falling" (1996) UK #4, USA #5 Worldwide Sales: 900,000
"Brand New Day" (1999) UK #5, USA #9 Worldwide Sales: 6 million
"Sacred Love" (2003) UK #3, USA #3 US: Worldwide Sales: 1.5 million
"Songs from the Labyrinth" (2006) UK #24, USA #25
Live albums
"Bring On the Night" (1986) UK #16
"Acoustic Live in Newcastle" (1991) UK Release
"...All This Time" (2001) UK #3 US #32
"The Journey and the Labyrinth" (2007) UK #1 US #1
Compilations
"Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994"(1994) UK #2 USA #16 Sales 3 million
"The Very Best of Sting & The Police" (1997) UK #1 USA #46 USA Sales 500,000
"At the Movies" (1999) Japan Release
Soundtracks and multi-artist albums
"The Secret Policeman's Other Ball - The Music" (1982) US #29
"Demolition Man" (1993)
"The Living Sea: Soundtrack from the IMAX Film" (1995)
"Sabrina: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" (1995)
"Dolphins: Soundtrack From The IMAX Theatre Film" (2000)
" Welcome to The Voice ( opera) Deutsche Grammophon . Steve Nieve . 2007
Foreign language albums
"Nada Como el Sol" (1988)
Singles
AAlso reached #2 on the Country Tracks chart.
Bibliography
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 1-90257-813-9
1998 Biography "Sting - Demolition Man", Christopher Sandford, Little, Brown and Company, ISBN 0-316-64372-6
External links
(StingMe.dk - The Complete Discography by Sting)
(Sting) at NNDB
(Sting's 1994 Commencement Address To The)
(List of Sting's touring band line-ups)
(Radio interview about John Dowland songs) from NPR "Performance Today", March 6, 2007
Credit
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article about Sting.
