Sting - Gordon Sumner - A Brief History Of The Police & His Solo Work

Sting aka Gordon Sumner, born in Wallsend, England near Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in 1951. After working various jobs and attending college, he also performed with various jazz bands.

It was when he wore a yellow and black striped sweater and performing with the band Phoenix Jazman onstage, that Gordon Solomon, the band leader commented he looked like a 'wasp'.

The moniker has stuck ever since.

In January 1977, Sting teamed up with Stuart Copeland and Henry Padovani, Henry would be replaced later by Andy Summers. From 1997 to 1983 'The Police' forming a fusion of punk, reggae and minimalist rock, produced 5 albums and 6 Grammy Awards. It was when they played Shea Stadium, Sting felt that he wasn't ready for this kind of huge audience and it felt like playing at 'Everest'. Sting left the band, although they never officially broke apart.

Initially the did poorly in the UK and abroad, but started to gain traction, especially after The Police performed a low budget tour in the USA for the album. Subsequently radio DJ's picked up the singles 'Roxanne' and 'Can't Stand Losing You' and provided more airplay. The album eventually peaked at #6 on the UK music charts in 1978.

Only taking a few months to record (although it was done over a period of months) The Police built upon their success of their 1sit album with this follow-up. Emerging at #1 on both the UK and Australian Charts on its release in 1979, as well as producing the hit singles 'Message In A Bottle', 'Walking On The Moon' and 'Can't Stand Losing You'

Written songs done during the second tour. The albums release in 1980, went straight to #5 on the US charts and #1 on both the UK and Australian charts. Featuring such hits as 'Don't Stand So Close To Me', De Do Do Do De Da Da Da' and 'Driven To Tears'. The band also felt the pressure from finishing from the studio and the members literally completed the album by 4am and a new world tour started that same day.

Taking a new direction, which ultimately not all the band members were happy with. An introduction of adding horns, strings and synth on some tracks, had taken the music into a different direction. The track 'Everything She Does Is Magic', shot straight to number #3 in the US and #1 in the UK in 1981.

The underlying tensions, were becoming very apparent to all the members, for sound production, all 3 members recorded their parts in separate rooms of the studio during production. The New Wave, edgey and reggae influenced sounds of the band from the first three albums, is almost entirely gone from this final production. The tensions remained high after the tour and subsequently the band, whilst never officially breaking, decided to pursue solo careers.

Sting, now no longer part of The Police, worked on his first album of his solo career, 'The Dream Of The Blue Turtles'.

The album was a huge hit worldwide and gained triple Platinum status in the UK. For the first tour of the album, a video film, documenting the formation of the backing band, and tour through France 'Bring On The Night' (named after one of the previous Police music tracks) was directed by Michael Apted. Not many documentaries on musicians or tours, were done for or by artists, yet many have been done since.

Stings other appearances at concerts for world issues, also saw the rise of Sting's activism and pursuits of change on the world arena, with a song written as far back as 1985 'Driven To Tears' about the issue of world hunger.

Sting debut solo album, highlights his political views and cover some themes about atrocities in the world. Including the songs 'Russians' (about nuclear weapons and cold war tensions), Children's Crusade (about the young dying in WWi, yet also an analogy about kids dying in the streets of London, due to drug abuse) and finally 'We Work The Black Seam' (about the UK coal miners strikes occurring at the time)

Released in 1987, Nothing Like The Sun, is most likely considered Stings most important music release. Before the release of the album, Sting's mother had passed on in 1986 as well as Sting taking part in A Conspiracy Of Hope Tour for Amnesty International, where he would meet many survivors form the civil wars plaguing Latin America at the time..

The title of the album comes from Shakespeare's Sonnet #130 (my mistress eyes are nothing like the sun) which is also used in the song, Sister Moon

1991 saw the release of Sting's 3rd solo album. It became another no #1 UK chart sensation and also won the Grammy for the single, 'The Soul Cages' awarded for Best Rock Song. The single 'All This Time' also topped the US Singles charts.

The title is a combined pun Sting's surname and a character in the book, The Canterbury Tales. Released in 1993, it explores themes of love and morality in a noticeably upbeat mood compared to his previous release. Best part was the 5 Grammy nominations, of which the album won 3 out of 5 categories.

Once again a new album in 1996 saw Sting change his music direction. The strings and rock ballads and jazz numbers of the last couple of albums saw an emergence of adult comtemporary music.

The track 'Valparaiso' was used in the closing credits of the film 'White Squall'

Released to critical acclaim in 1999, the single 'Desert Rose' (as shown in the clip above) featured Algerian Rai singer - Cheb Mami. The album also went on to win 2 Grarmy Awards. The video clip for the single 'The End Of The Day' which is available on the DVD-Audio version of the album, parodies bleach commercials.

2003 sees the release of Stings seventh studio album and again shows why he is such a versatile musician, not afraid to try genre's of music that are not his normal type. A collaboration with one song with Mary J Blige and much more racier beats show there is alot more to Sting than meets the musical ear.

In 2004, again Sting wins at least one of the nominations at the 2004 Grammy Awards.

A completely different direction for Sting, 23 tracks of the music of John Dowland and performed by Sting and Bosnian/Croatian lutenist Edin Karamazov. Not one of the better performing albums than his previous works, yet its more for the artistry of the music rather than the commercial aspect.

The re-released version of the CD also contains the bonus tracks of live versions of 'Fields of Gold', 'Message in a Bottle' and 'Have You Seen the Bright Lily Grow'.

November 2009, the last and current release of Stings solo career now spanning Nine Studio releases.

if On A Winters Night, has the title derived from the book by Italo Calvino - If On A Winters Night A Traveller.

This album again spanned multi-platinum sales in most countries in release. The intriguing aspect is the formats it was released on, Vinyl LP, Single Disc Cd, Limited Edition CD, an Amazon.com exclusive version as well as various import editions.