Sting
Sting performing with The Police at Madison Square Garden (The Garden) in New York City in 2007. Photo by Lionel Urman. Source: Wikimedia.
Sting is a Grammy Award winning British singer-songwriter whose breakthrough came as the lead singer of The Police – a British new wave band, who between 1977 and 1984 released numerous hits such as Every Breath You Take and Message in a Bottle. Upon the demise of The Police in 1986, Sting began a massively successful solo career. Some of his well-known solo songs include Desert Rose and Brand New Day. Away from his career as a singer, he has starred in movies like, 1985’s The Bride and 1988’s Stormy Monday.
His solo career and his career with The Police have seen him sell over 100 million records worldwide, thereby making him one of the most successful British singers of all time.
Sting was born to Audrey and Matthew Sumner on October 2nd, 1951 in Wallsend, England. He grew up with four younger siblings.
Sting married an Irish actress called Frances Tomelty on May 1st, 1976 but they divorced in 1984. He fathered two children with Frances. His second marriage was to actress Trudie Styler, whom he married on August 20, 1992. The marriage produced four children, including singer Eliot Pauline (also known by the name Coco).
Facts about Sting
- His mother and father died of cancer in 1986 and 1987 respectively. He refused attending the funeral services of both his mother and dad because he felt the media wouldn’t respect the memory of his parents.
- Sting is an avid jogger. At some point he used to run 8 kilometers every day.
- In 2011, the Sunday Times Rich List included Sting in its list of the top 10 richest people in the music industry in Britain.
- He considers himself an agnostic.
- Growing up, he used to help his father, who worked as an engineer and milkman, deliver milk around the neighborhood.
- Prior to becoming a fulltime musician and gaining worldwide stardom, Sting worked as a professional teacher. Before gaining fame, he also once worked as a tax officer and bus conductor.
- In 1995, Keith Moore, who worked as Sting’s accountant, was found guilty of stealing about 6 million pounds from Sting’s bank accounts and sentenced to six years in prison.
- In 2007, a tribunal found Sting and his wife Styler guilty of violating employment law after they dismissed their personal chef when she became pregnant. The couple was ordered to pay over $50,000 in damages to the chef.
Honors and Awards received by Sting
Here are some of the notable honors and awards received by Sting:
- Throughout his solo career and his career with The Police, Sting has won as many as 16 Grammy Awards.
- In 2003, he and the other members of The Police were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2003, Queen Elizabeth II honored him with a CBE at the Buckingham Palace. He earned that prestigious honor as a result of his remarkable contribution to music.
- Sting has a star on the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame, an honor he received in 2000.
- In 2002, he received an induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
- In 2011, Time magazine included him in their list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
- Sting, along with four other important personalities including singer Al Green and actor Tom Hanks, received 2014’s Kennedy Center Honors.
- In 2017, Sting was honored with the prestigious Polar Music Price.
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