Sting

Sting was born in Newcastle,England on October 2, 1951. His real name is Gordon Matthew Sumner. His family was not poor, but the area they lived in was full of unemployment and poverty. At school, Sting always wanted to be Number 1.
At the age of eight or nine he got his first guitar from his uncle. He listened to The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Stax.
In 1967 he got his first bass guitar, which introduced him to the instrument. Two years later he went to university, but after one month he returned to his parent's house. Then, in 1971 he trained as teacher. In a college he played bass in two bands. There he got his nickname, too. In May 1976 Sting married his first wife Frances Tomelty and in October their first child Joe was born.

In 1977 he was invited to join The Police as lead singer. Soon he became the head of The Police. Their relationship with A&M began with the single 'Roxanne'. Within a year this song had cracked the top 40. In 1983 they had an eight-week number one single with 'Every Breath You Take'. In the same year The Police released their last album 'Synchronicity', too. It would have been the top and best-selling album of the year if Michael Jackson had not published his phenomenal Thriller.
Until then The Police had recorded four more albums: Outlandos D'Amour, Reggatta De Blanc, Zenyatta Mondatta and Ghost in the Machine. All five of their albums were certified gold, five going platinum or multi-platinum. The Police never officially broke up but today all members are playing in own bands or have their solo-careers.

Until today Sting released seven solo albums: The Dream of the Blue Turtles, Bring on the Night,   Nothing Like the Sun, The Soul Cages, Ten Summoners Tales, Mercury Falling, Brand New Day and All This Time. Brand New Day is his best-selling album. It has been sold more than 7 million times around the world and has received Grammy Awards for Best Pop Album and Best Pop Male Vocal Performance beating out Ricky Martin.

Sting was born as the oldest of four sons. In 1976 he married Frances Tomelty, but but in 1982 they divorced. In 1992, he finally married Trudie Styler at his children's urging. He has six children, two of them with Frances Tomelty and four with Trudie Styler.
One of his problems is that he is losing his hearing. He is trying with medical aid to get some hearing back. In an interview he said that this is not threatening his career.

Sting's main activities are song writing, singing and playing instruments. He is abled to play guitar, mandolin, piano, harmonica, saxophone, pan flute and bass guitar.
He and Trudie founded the Rainforest Foundation to help the rainforest. This shows their socially and ecologically benefical strain. He appeared in concerts for Amnesty International and in Life Aid (1986) and Brand Aid (1988), both of which helped the famine victims in Ethiopia.
Sting explains how his attitude came to play an expanding role in his songs: "I'm pretty angry at the world, and I think it's my duty to be angry. Because a lot of people are asleep, you know? They don't know what's going on. They don't know the place is being wrecked by fools. Fools we call politicians."

Sting was a member of the The Phoenix Jazzmen, where everyone had a nickname. Once he appeared to a rehearsal with a yellow striped soccer sweater. Because he looked like a bee, he first was called 'stinger' which led to 'Sting'.

"In the Police I had to control everything. It was a very uptight little band - which gave it an energy at first, though that soon became counter-productive."
Timeout, 12/87

"Being outside of the Police, I find it much easier to relate to the others; we all do. Those little things we were stuck with, this grungy little group. Never again. It's much more pleasant now."
Rolling Stone, 2/88

"I'm pretty angry at the world, and I think it's my duty to be angry. Because a lot of people are asleep, you know? They don't know what's going on. They don't know the place is being wrecked by fools. Fools we call politicians."
"I think the legend of The Police is still very intact. I'm very proud of it. We were a damn good band, and it holds up pretty well."
Sky magazine, 12/99

"I think I have an adrenaline addiction. I love being afraid before I go on-stage. I secretly enjoy rough plane rides."
Newsweek, '85