Sting

Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, CBE (born October 2, 1951), better known by his stage name Sting, is a three time Academy Award-nominated and multiple Grammy-winning English musician from Wallsend in North Tyneside. Prior to starting his solo career, he was the principal songwriter, lead singer and bassist of the rock band The Police. As a solo musician and member of The Police, Sting has sold over 100 million records, and received over sixteen Grammy Awards for his work, receiving his first Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1981, and receiving an Oscar nomination for best song.

Biography

Early life

Sumner was born in Wallsend (an area of North Tyneside in the northeast of England[4]) to Ernest Sumner and his wife Audrey Cowell, a hairdresser. Ernest and Audrey had three more children after Gordon: a son (Philip) and two daughters (Angela and Anita). Ernest managed a dairy: young Gordon would often assist his father with the early-morning milk-delivery rounds. The Sumner siblings were raised as Roman Catholics, due to the influence of their Irish paternal grandmother. Early on, young Sumner's "best friend" was an old Spanish guitar with five rusty strings left behind by an uncle who'd emigrated to Canada. Gordon attended St Cuthbert's High School in Newcastle upon Tyne. Later, he left the University of Warwick in Coventry, after only one term. During this time, Gordon would often sneak into nightclubs like the Club-A-Go-Go. Here, he would watch acts such as Jack Bruce and Jimi Hendrix...acts which would later influence Sumner's own music. After jobs as a bus conductor, a construction laborer, and a tax officer, Gordon attended Northern Counties College of Education, (which later became part of Northumbria University) from 1971 to 1974 and qualified as a teacher. He then worked as a schoolteacher at St. Paul's First School in Cramlington for two years. His experiences there would inspire him to write two of the Police's greatest hits: "Don't Stand So Close To Me" and "Roxanne". Each was loosely based on one of his favorite books: Lolita and Cyrano de Bergerac, respectively.

From an early age, Sumner knew that he wanted to be a musician. His first music gigs were wherever he could get a job. He performed evenings, weekends, and during vacations from college and from 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 sweater 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.

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. (Credit: Wikipedia).

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