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| Birth Name(s) : Gordon Matthew Sumner |
Date of Birth: October 2, 1951 |
| Status:
Married
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Partner:
Trudie Styler |
| Profession:
Actor/Musician |
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Full Sting Biography
Born Gordon Matthew Sumner in Wallsend, Northumberland. His mother was Audrey, and his father was Eric. He received his name Sting from his striped sweater in which Gordon Solomon said that he looked like a bee.
Primarily a musician, he worked in the band "The Police" until 1984 after which he went solo. Before his music career he was a ditch digger, a school-teacher who taught English and was also a soccer coach. He received an honorary Doctorate of Music degree from Northumbria University in October 1992, and from Berklee College of Music in May, 1994. He plays on guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, piano, harmonica, saxophone and pan-flute, and he gave a name to his bass (Brian). Along with his wife Trudie and a Brazilian Indian he started the Rainforest Foundation in 1989 to help save the rainforests. |
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Additional Sting Biography
Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, CBE (born 2 October 1951), universally known by his stage name Sting, is an English musician from Newcastle upon Tyne. Prior to starting his solo career, he was the principal composer, lead singer and bass player of the rock band The Police.
Sting has stated that he gained his nickname while with the Phoenix Jazzmen. He once performed wearing a black and yellow jersey 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?"
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. Another popular song of the Police is "Don't Stand So Close to Me" which made number 1.
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.
Also in 1985, he sang the introduction and chorus to "Money for Nothing", a groundbreaking song by Dire Straits (because he reused his melody from The Police hit Don't Stand So Close to Me for his vocal parts, he was given co-writer status and receives royalties based on his somewhat minor performance. It is one of only two shared songwriting credits on any Dire Straits album). He performed this song with Dire Straits at the Live Aid Concert at Wembley Stadium. Sting also provided a short guest vocal performance on the Miles Davis album You're Under Arrest. He also sang backing vocals in Arcadia's single "The Promise" from their only album, "So Red The Rose". He also contributed a version of "Mack the Knife" to the Hal Willner-produced tribute album Lost in the Stars: The Music of Kurt Weill.
The Emperor's New Groove soundtrack was released with complete songs from the previous version of the film, which included Rascal Flatts and Shawn Colvin. This is seen by many as a move on Disney's part to soothe the relationship with Sting and to keep open the door for future projects. The final single used to promote the film was "My Funny Friend and Me".
He performed a special arrangement of "Fragile" with Yo-Yo Ma and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during the opening ceremonies of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Sting occasionally has ventured into acting. Notable film roles include:
- The Ace Face, the King of The Mods, a.k.a. The Bell Boy in the movie adaptation of The Who album Quadrophenia (1979)
- Martin Taylor, a drifter in Brimstone and Treacle (1982)
- Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen in the movie Dune (1984)
- Mick, a black-marketeer in Plenty (1985)
- Baron Frankenstein in The Bride (1985)
- Himself in the documentary film Bring on the Night (1985)
- A "heroic officer" in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
- Finney, a nightclub owner in Stormy Monday (1988)
- Daniel, a British gentleman in Julia and Julia (1988)
- Fledge in The Grotesque (1995), in which he appears nude
- Himself on The Simpsons episode "Radio Bart" (1992)
- J.D., Eddie's father and owner of a bar, in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
- Himself on the Vicar of Dibley Comic Relief special (2007)
Sting's first involvement in the human rights cause occurred in September 1981 when he was invited by producer Martin Lewis to participate in the fourth Amnesty International gala The Secret Policeman's Other Ball following the example set at the 1979 show by Pete Townshend. Sting performed two of his Police compositions as a soloist - Roxanne and Message In A Bottle - appearing on all four nights of the show at the Theatre Royal in London. Sting also led an impromptu super-group of other musicians (dubbed The Secret Police) performing at the show including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Phil Collins, Donovan, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in the show's grand finale - Sting's own reggae-tinged arrangement of Bob Dylan's I Shall Be Released. The event was the first time that Sting had worked with Geldof, Collins and Ure - an association that developed further with 1984's Band Aid and 1985's Live Aid. Sting's performance - his first live appearances as a solo performer - was prominently featured on the album of the show (being its lead tracks) and in the film. In 1986, Sting was one of the headline performers on Amnesty's Conspiracy Of Hope tour of the US.
Sumner owns several homes worldwide, including Elizabethan manor house Lake House and its 60-acre country estate in Wiltshire, England, a country cottage in the Lake District, a New York City apartment, a beach house in Malibu, California, a 600-acre estate in Tuscany, Italy, and two properties in London: an apartment on the Mall and an 18th century terrace house in Highgate. According to an interview he did for German television broadcaster NDR in 1996, Sting chose a tree on the Lake House estate beside which he wishes to be buried someday. |
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Sting Quote(s)
| I'm bored with music between 1955 and 1980. I'm completely bored. I can't listen to a rock and roll record. I can't do it. I would rather listen to hogs screwing. |
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