STING, née Gordon Matthew Sumner, was born on 2/10/1951 in Wallsend, Newcastle. He started his career by playing in semi-professional jazz-rock combinations and earned his nickname from fellow jazz player Gordon Soloman. Sting used to wear a yellow and black looped soccer jersey quite frequently and Soloman thought that he resembled a bee. That's why he gave him the above nick.
Apart from his early jazz work, Mr Sumner was employed at St. Paul's First School Tyne & Wear where he taught under-9-year-olds.

Sting's career really took off in 1977 when he got together with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers to form the pop group POLICE. Together they went on to record what became some of the most successful hits of the late seventies and early eighties, such as "Roxanne" (these days re-recorded by George Michael on his "Songs Of The Last Century"), "So Lonely", "Can't Stand Losing You", "Message In A Bottle" and "Walking On The Moon".

Not only did Gordon Sumners write songs for Police and go on tour, but he also carved out a career as an actor, appearing in the film "Quadrophenia" in 1979. However, he rejected several other film offers at the time, including a leading role as the villain in the James Bond film "For Your Eyes Only".

In 1985, after enormous popularity, the band split up and each member went into a different direction. Sting assembled himself a new backing group and wrote and sang with other artists. He dueted with Phil Collins on the single "Lon Long Way To Go" (from the album "No Jacket Required") and co-wrote and lent his vocals to Dire Straits "Money For Nothing".

Furthermore, to say that Sting is a pop star caring about environmental problems would be an understatement. He has appeared at Live Aid in July 1985 and has held many beneficial concerts for Aids and disasters around the world.
In recent years he has become more involved in trying to preserve the Brazilian Rainforest and performs an annual concert for that particular cause with a line-up of other stars.

Apart from his environmental activities he has found fame in his own right with several its, including "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You", "Fields Of Gold" and "All For Love" (performed together with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart).

In 1992 Sting married long-time lover Trudie Styler (his second wife). The reception was attended by numerous fellow colleagues of the music business and entertainment was supplied by the Troggs and Police themselves who reunited for the special occasion.

In 1995 Sting was involved in a court case accusing his former accountant Keith Moore of embezzling a considerable amount of money over a period of time. The verdict favoured Sting and Moore was found guilty of ripping the singer off for over 6 million pounds. Moore was sentenced to prison for six years.

Since then Gordon has devoted his time not only to writing music for himself, but also for theme tunes for films, "Demolition Man" with Sylvester Stallone being a prime example. He finished off the century at the NBC's television studios in New York with a partly television broadcast. Originally he was supposed to perform at a massive New Year's celebration at New York's Javits Center alongside Aretha Franklin and Chuck Berry. However, the event was cancelled because of slow ticket sales.

 

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