Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, known as Sting, is an English musician, activist and actor. He was the frontman, songwriter and bassist for new wave band the Police from 1977 until their breakup in 1986. He launched a solo career in 1985 and has included elements of rock, jazz, reggae, classical, new-age, and worldbeat in his music.
Sting performing at The Queen's Birthday Party in 2018
Wallsend shipyard in 1964, near where Sting grew up. His childhood experiences and the local shipbuilding industry was the inspiration for his 2014 musical The Last Ship, which is also set in Wallsend.
Sting performing in Norway in 1985
Sting and Bono at the Conspiracy of Hope concert in New Jersey, 1986
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting, Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland, and remained unchanged for the rest of the band's history. The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early to mid 1980s. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.
Andy Summers (far right), Sting (front), Stewart Copeland (drums). The Police performing at Madison Square Garden on 1 August 2007.
BBC Television Centre, where the Police made their television debut on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1978, and where they made their first appearance on Top of the Pops in 1979
Summers performing with the band in 1979
Sting with the Police in Buenos Aires, 1980
