Sting

Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, known to the people all over the world as Sting, is undoubtedly one of the most successful British musicians of modern time. Known as The Police founder, great songwriter, famous singer and actor, he has a great number of honors to commemorate his achievements, ranging from sixteen Grammy Awards to both Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame and the Songwriters Hall Of Fame membership. Being an excellent solo performer, he also is known for his collaborations – he recorded Come Down In Time with Elton John and became one of the writers of Dire Straits’ hit Money For Nothing. In 1993 he united with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart to perform world-famous All For Love for the film The Three Musketeers. All in all Sting contributed to numerous soundtracks, and acted in a number of movies, ranging from Dune to Lock, Stock, And Two Smoking Barrels.

Famous singer was born 2 October 1951 in small town of Wallsend. When he began to attend St. Cuthbert's High School in Newcastle, he got acquainted with music by such artists as Jimi Hendrix and Cream, who deeply influenced his style. Soon Sting started to play with local jazz bands. He was usually wearing sweater with a black and yellow stripes while performing onstage, so his friends gave him a nickname «Sting». In 1977, singer formed The Police together with Stewart Copeland and Henry Padovani. The band quickly rose to international fame. Sting’s contribution to their success was great as he wrote most of the band’s hits, such as Every Breath You Take.

Anyway, in 1981 Sting left the band, and four years later his first solo album The Dream Of The Blue Turtles was released. As well as The Police’s records, it was based on reggae and jazz mixed with pop tunes. The album spawned a number of hits: If You Love Somebody Set Them Free, Fortress Around Your Heart and Russians. The record became platinum, but Sting’s next album ...Nothing Like the Sun (1987) was even more successful, becoming double platinum. It featured such world famous hits as We'll Be Together, Fragile, Englishman In New York and Be Still My Beating Heart. As long as this record was dedicated to singer’s late mother, next album, The Soul Cages (1991), was devoted to Sting’s recently deceased father. It also became platinum, featuring two chart-breaking singles, All This Time and The Soul Cages. Next singer’s album hit the stores in 1993. Titled Ten Summoner's Tales (which is a wordplay based on his surname Sumner), it has reached triple-platinum status within only one year. Next album by Sting, 1996’s Mercury Falling, was not as fantastic-successful as his previous works, although it enjoyed strong sales and featured two successful singles, You Still Touch Me and I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying.

Anyway, Sting’s next record Brand New Day (2000) again became three times platinum, with its success based on such hits as Brand New Day and Desert Rose. The album represented Sting’s interest in Arabic music. The final show of the tour in support of this record was set to take place on 11 September 2001. When the news about tragedy emerged, Sting asked audience if he should perform. Fans decided to continue the concert, which was later released on DVD under the title ...All This Time. In 2003 Sting released Sacred Love album, which was based on his experiments with hip-hop and soul music – for example, it featured a duo with Mary J. Blige, titled Whenever I Say Your Name. This song later received Grammy Award as Best Pop Collaboration. As it became a tradition for Sting, the follow-up album was recorded and released within three years. Named Songs From The Labyrinth, it did not reach the high sales of previous albums – probably because Sting turned to classical music that time (the record even received several awards from classical music magazines).

Next year Sting reunited with The Police bandmates for the world tour. After finishing it, singer started the work on his following album If On A Winter's Night... The record was based on the novel If On A Winter's Night A Traveler by Italo Calvino, and hit the stores in October 2009. It marked Sting’s return to soul music. The chart performance was similar to previous record, and some fans even claimed that Sting has lost his style. However, in recent interviews Sting claimed that he felt confident about his records and was not going to give up music. Thus, the release of Sting’s tenth studio attempt titled Symphonicities took place in 2010.The musician presented extremely interesting interpretations of his compositions, which had been recorded with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Of course, Symphonicities was created in the highest level, and there is no doubt that this record will become a great addition to any music lover’s collection.