The Police were an English
rock trio, from London, England, formed
originally in 1977. The trio consisted of
Gordon Sumner, CBE (born 2 October 1951),
widely known by his stage name of
Sting (
lead
vocals,
bass guitar),
Andy Summers (
guitar,
vocals) and
Stewart Copeland (
drums,
vocals,
percussion). The band became
globally popular in the late 1970s and are generally regarded as
one of the first New Wave groups to achieve mainstream success,
playing a style of rock that was influenced by
jazz,
punk and
reggae music. Their 1983 album,
Synchronicity, was number one in
the UK and the US and sold over 8,000,000 copies in the US. The
band broke up in 1984, but reunited in early 2007 for a one-off
world tour lasting until
August 2008, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of their hit
single "
Roxanne" and also, to a
lesser extent, that of their formation as a group. The Police have
sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, and became the world's
highest-earning musicians in 2008, thanks to their reunion tour.
Rolling Stone ranked The
Police number 70 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All
Time.
Career
Formation (1977–78)
The Police were founded by American-born drummer
Stewart Copeland in early 1977. After the
demise of his
progressive rock band
Curved Air, Copeland was anxious to form
a new three-piece group and join the burgeoning London punk scene.
Singer-bassist
Sting and guitarist
Henry Padovani began rehearsing with
Copeland in January 1977, and they recorded their first Police
single, "Fall Out"/"Nothing Achieving," the following month.
Although the early style of the group has been classified as punk
rock, Allmusic Guide argues that this was only true "... in the
loosest sense of the term"; the Guide states that the band's "...
nervous, reggae-injected pop/rock was punky" and had a "punk
spirit", but it "wasn't necessarily punk". In March and April, the
threesome toured as a support act for
Cherry Vanilla as well as
Wayne County & the
Electric Chairs. In May, ex-
Gong
musician
Mike Howlett invited Sting and
former
Eric Burdon and the
Animals guitarist
Andy Summers to
form
Strontium 90 with him, as a
project band for a Gong reunion. The drummer Howlett had in mind
for this band,
Chris Cutler, was
unavailable to play, so Sting brought along Stewart Copeland.
Strontium 90 recorded several demo tracks at Virtual Earth Studios,
and then performed at a Gong reunion concert in Paris on 28 May
1977. An album with some of these studio and live tracks (with the
first recorded version of "
Every Little Thing She Does
Is Magic") was released 20 years later in 1997 under the name
Strontium 90: Police
Academy. The foursome also performed at a London club as
"The Elevators" in July 1977.
The band's logo
In July 1977, Copeland, Sting, Padovani, and Summers began
performing as a four-piece version of the Police. Padovani's
relatively limited ability as a guitarist curtailed his tenure with
the band. Soon after an aborted recording session with producer
John Cale on 10 August, Padovani left the
band and Summers took over sole guitar duties. This lineup of
Copeland, Sting, and Summers would endure for the rest of Police
history. Sting proved a capable songwriter. He had spent time as a
secondary school English teacher,
and his lyrics are noted for their literary awareness and verbal
agility. Material in the later album
Ghost in the Machine was
inspired by the writings of
Arthur
Koestler, and songs on
Synchronicity by the writings of
Carl Jung. "Tea in the Sahara" on the
latter album showed interest in the work of author
Paul Bowles.
The Police, along with
The Clash, were
among the first mainstream white
bands
to adopt
reggae as a predominant musical
form, and to score major international hits with reggae-styled
material. Although
ska and reggae were already
popular in the United Kingdom, the style was little known in the
United States or other countries. Prior to the emergence of the
Police, only a handful of reggae songs—such as
Eric Clapton's 1974 cover rendition of
Bob Marley's "
I
Shot the Sheriff" or
Paul Simon's
"
Mother and Child
Reunion"—had enjoyed much chart success. The bleached-blonde
hair that would become a trademark of the band was a lucky
accident, originating in February 1978. The band, desperate for
money, was asked to do a commercial for
Wrigley's Spearmint chewing gum on the condition that they dye their
hair blonde.Allmusic Guide notes that while the "...commercial
provided exposure, it drew the scorn of genuine punkers".
Recording contract (1978–1980)
For the Police, their first album,
Outlandos d'Amour was a hardship,
working on a small budget, with no manager or record deal. Stewart
Copeland's older brother
Miles
Copeland III heard "
Roxanne" for
the first time and immediately got them a record deal with
A&M Records. Originally released in
1978, the single was re-released in 1979, and it was then that the
Police gained widespread recognition in the United Kingdom, as well
as scoring a minor hit with the song in several other countries,
notably Australia.
Their success led to a gig at the famous New
York club CBGB
and a
grueling United States tour in which the band drove themselves and
all their equipment around the country in a Ford Econoline van. In October 1979,
the group released their second album
Reggatta de Blanc, which was a major
seller throughout Europe. The album topped the British charts for
four weeks and spawned the UK number-one singles "
Message in a Bottle" and
"
Walking on the Moon". The
instrumental title track won the Grammy Award for Best Rock
Instrumental Performance.
In March
1980, the Police did their first world tour; the band played such
areas as Mexico City, Mexico; Bombay
, India; and
Egypt, which seldom hosted foreign performers. In May,
A&M in Great Britain released "
Six Pack " an expensive package
containing the five previous A&M singles (not including "Fall
Out") in their original sleeves plus a mono alternate take of the
popular album track (from
Reggatta De Blanc) "
The Bed's Too Big Without You"
backed with a live version of the
Outlandos d'Amour track
"Truth Hits Everybody." It reached #17 in the U.K. singles chart,
although chart regulations introduced later in the decade would
have classed it as an album. Pressured by their record company for
a new record and a prompt return to touring, the Police released
their third album,
Zenyatta
Mondatta, in the autumn of 1980. The album gave the group
their third U.K. #1 hit, "
Don't Stand So Close to Me", and
"
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da",
which charted in the United States. In subsequent interviews, Sting
said he regretted the rushed recording for the album. However, many
critics would later cite it as one of their strongest efforts. The
instrumental "Behind My Camel," written by Andy Summers, won the
band a
Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental
Performance. The song "Don't Stand So Close to Me" won the Grammy
for Best Rock Vocal Performance For Duo Or Group.
Stardom (1980–83)
By this time, Sting was becoming a major star, and he established a
career beyond the Police by branching out into acting. He made a
well-received debut as the 'Ace Face' in
Quadrophenia, the film version of
The Who's
rock
opera, followed by a role as a mechanic in love with
Eddie Cochran's music in
Chris Petit's
Radio
On. He also played the character
Feyd Rautha in
Dune and a soldier who is executed for
being too brave in
The Adventures of Baron
Munchausen. As Sting's fame rose, his relationship with
band founder Stewart Copeland began to deteriorate. The
increasingly strained partnership was further stretched by the
pressures of worldwide
publicity and fame,
conflicting
egos, and their financial success.
Meanwhile, both Sting and Summers' marriages failed (Sting settled
down with new partner
Trudie Styler,
whom he later married, while Summers, after a brief relationship
that fathered a son, Andrew Jr., re-married his second wife
Kate).
The Police's fourth album,
Ghost in the Machine,
co-produced by
Hugh Padgham, was
released in 1981. It featured thicker sounds, layered
saxophones, and vocal textures. It spawned the hit
singles, "
Every
Little Thing She Does Is Magic", "
Invisible Sun", and "
Spirits in the Material
World". As the band were unable to agree on a cover picture,
the album cover had three red pictographs, "digital" likenesses of
the three band members in the style of segmented LED displays, set
against a black background. In the 1980s, Sting and Andy Summers
became
tax exiles and moved to Ireland
(Sting to Roundstone in Galway, and Summers to Kinsale in County
Cork) while Stewart, an American, remained in England.The group
took a sabbatical in 1982, with Sting pursuing his acting career,
co-starring with
Denholm Elliot and
Joan Plowright in the
Richard Loncraine film version of
Dennis Potter's play
Brimstone and Treacle. He also
had a minor solo hit in the United Kingdom with the movie's theme
song, "Spread A Little Happiness" (which appeared on the
Brimstone and Treacle
soundtrack, along with three new Police tracks). Summers
recorded his first album with
Robert
Fripp,
I Advance Masked.
The Police released their last album,
Synchronicity, in 1983. Notable
songs from that album include "
Every Breath You Take", "
Wrapped Around Your Finger",
"
King of Pain" and the foreboding
"
Synchronicity II".
The Synchronicity Tour began in Chicago,
Illinois in July 1983 at the original Comiskey Park
, and ended in Melbourne
, Australia in March 1984 at the Melbourne
Showgrounds. The event featured five bands, including
Simple Minds,
Flock of Seagulls,
The
Fixx,
Joan Jett and
the Blackhearts, with The Police topping the bill. Sting's
look, dominated by his orange-colored hair (a result from his role
in the science fiction film
Dune) and tattered clothing, all which were
emphasized in the music videos from the album, carried over in to
the set for the concert. To add to the excitement, an
MTV kickoff crew hosted the concert, featuring MTV
notable
Martha Quinn, who introduced
the group. Musically, each of the band members had expanded gear
with added instruments (such as Stewart Copeland's auxiliary
percusion and Andy Summers' guitar synthesizer components) and even
backup singers dressed in robes, who joined the band for "Tea In
The Sahara".
Except for "King of Pain", the singles were accompanied by music
videos directed by
Godley &
Creme. This album hit #1 in both the U.K. (where it debuted at
#1) and the U.S. It stayed at #1 in the U.K. for only two weeks and
in the U.S. for 17 weeks. It was nominated for the Album of the
Year Grammy, but lost to
Michael
Jackson's
Thriller.
The Police beat out Jackson in one category: "Every Breath You
Take" won the Grammy for Song Of The Year, beating Jackson's
"
Billie Jean". "Every Breath You Take"
also won the Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With
Vocal while "Synchronicity II" won the Grammy for Best Rock
Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. "Every Breath You Take"
also won the
American Video Award for Best Group video and
nabbed two
Ivor Novello Awards
for the categories Best Song Musically & Lyrically and Most
Performed Work. In 1983, Stewart Copeland composed the musical
score for
Rumble Fish, a film
directed and produced by
Francis
Ford Coppola from the
S.E. Hinton novel. A song released to radio on
A&M Records "Don't Box Me In (theme From
Rumble
Fish)", a collaboration between Copeland and singer/songwriter
Stan Ridgway leader of the band
Wall of Voodoo, received significant
airplay upon release of the film that year.
Break-up and post-break-up tour (1984–86)
After the Synchronicity tour ended in March 1984, the group
disbanded, and each band member went on to pursue his own solo
career. In June 1986, the trio reconvened to play three concerts
for the
Amnesty International
A Conspiracy of Hope
Tour. In July of that year, a tense short-lived reunion in
the studio produced only subdued re-recordings of "Don't Stand So
Close to Me" and "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da". The former was
released in October 1986 as their final single together in the form
of "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86" (a substantially reworked
version of the 1980 original), appeared on the compilation
Every Breath You
Take: The Singles, and made the UK Top 25. By this time,
it was clear that Sting had no intention of continuing with the
band, having already released a successful solo debut LP in 1985,
the
jazz-influenced
The Dream of the Blue
Turtles.
Post-break-up (1992–2006)
In 1992, Sting wed
Trudie Styler.
Summers and Copeland were invited to the ceremony and reception.
Aware that all band members were present, the wedding guests
pressured the trio into playing, and they ultimately performed
"Roxanne" and "Message in a Bottle". Copeland said later that
"after about three minutes, it became 'the thing' again." Also in
1992, Andy Summers served a brief stint as Musical Director on the
short-lived "Dennis Miller Show".
On 10 March 2003, the Police were inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
and performed "Roxanne", "Message In a Bottle," and
"Every Breath You Take" live, as a group. The last song was
performed alongside
Steven Tyler,
Gwen Stefani, and
John Mayer. Towards the end of the song,
Copeland, known for tightening his drum heads until his knuckles
turned white for a hard popping snare backbeat, broke the head of
his snare drum. That autumn Sting released his autobiography,
Broken Music.
In 2004,
Henry Padovani (the band's
guitarist before Andy Summers joined) released an album with the
participation of Stewart Copeland and Sting in one track, reuniting
the "original" Police members in a performance for the first time
since 1977. Also in 2004,
Rolling
Stone Magazine ranked The Police #70 on their list of the
100 Greatest Artists of All Time. In 2006,
Stewart Copeland made a
rockumentary about the band called
Everyone Stares: The
Police Inside Out, based on
Super-8
filming he did when the band was touring and recording in the late
1970s and the early 1980s. In October 2006, Andy Summers released
One Train Later, an autobiographical memoir detailing his
early career and time with the band.
Reunion tour (2007–08)
In early 2007, reports surfaced that the trio would reunite for a
tour to mark their 30th anniversary, over 20 years since their
'final' split in 1986. The concerts would coincide with Universal
Music (current owners of the A&M label) re-releasing some
material from the band's back catalogue. The following statement
was released on behalf of the band by a spokesman at Interscope
Geffen A&M Records and posted on Sting's official website: "As
the 30th anniversary of the first Police single approaches,
discussions have been underway as to how this will be commemorated.
While we can confirm that there will indeed be something special
done to mark the occasion, the depth of the band's involvement
still remains undetermined."
On 22 January 2007, the punk wave magazine
Side-Line broke the story that The Police would
reunite for the
Grammys, adding that the song
performed would be "Roxanne".
Side-Line
also announced in its news coverage that The Police were to embark
on a massive tour bringing them to cities all over the world.
Billboard magazine later
confirmed the rumours, quoting Andy Summers who had discussed
earlier in 2006 how the band could have continued
post-
Synchronicity: "The more rational approach would have
been, 'OK, Sting, go make a solo record, and let's get back
together in two or three years. I'm certain we could have done
that. Of course we could have. We were definitely not in a creative
dry space. We could have easily carried on, and we could probably
still be there. That wasn't to be our fate. It went in another way.
I regret we never paid it off with a last tour."
The band opened the
49th Annual Grammy Awards on 11 February 2007
in Los Angeles,
California
, announcing "We're The Police. And we're
back!" before launching into "Roxanne." A&M Records, the band's
record company, promoted the 2007–2008 reunion tour as the 30th
anniversary of the release of their first single "Roxanne" and not
indeed that of the band's creation.
Guitarist Andy Summers performing in
Marseille with the group
They opened their Reunion Tour in Vancouver on 28 May in front of
32,000 fans at one of two nearly sold-out concerts. Stewart
Copeland gave a scathing review of the show on his own website,
which the press picked up as a feud occurring two gigs into the
tour. It was only meant to be tongue-in-cheek and the band took it
as light-hearted as it was intended.
Henry Padovani joined the band on stage for
the final encore of their show in Paris on 29 September. The Police
as a 4-piece band played "Next to You" from the band's first album
Outlandos d'Amour. In October 2007, the group played the largest
gig of the reunion tour in Dublin, Ireland, in front of 82,000
fans. The group also cancelled their second planned concert in
Antwerp, Belgium on 9 October 2007, as Sting suffered from
pharyngitis. They continued their reunion tour in 2008, and
locations included New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Macau, Japan,
Canada, US, France, Germany, Norway, Denmark, UK, Serbia, Poland,
Argentina and Brazil, where they played for 75,000 people.
The group were headliners at the TW Classic festival in Werchter,
Belgium on 7 June 2008. The Police also headlined the last night of
the 2008
Isle of Wight
Festival on 15 June 2008, in addition to headlining the Sunday
night at Hard Rock Calling (previously called
Hyde Park Calling) on 29 June. In February
2008, the band announced that once they were finished touring, they
would break up again. According to Sting, "There will be no new
album, no big new tour, once we're done with our reunion tour,
that's it for the Police".
Drummer Stewart Copeland performing in
Marseille with the group
The final
show of the tour was held 7 August at Madison Square
Garden
in New York City and was opened by The B-52's. The group earlier announced
the show while donating $1 million to New York Mayor
Michael Bloomberg's initiative to plant
one million trees in the city by 2017. Proceeds went towards arts
programming for the city's two
public television stations. During the
entire tour they sold 3.7 million tickets and grossed $358 million,
making it the third highest grossing tour of all time. The Police
and the store Best Buy announced 4 August 2008 that they would
release a collector's set entitled "
Certifiable: Live in Buenos
Aires". The set will include an entire concert recorded live in
Buenos Aires, Argentina on the tour. The set will come in the
following packages: 2DVD/2CD, 1 Blu-Ray Disc/2CD, and 3 premium
180-gram vinyl LPs with MP3 file key. The set will include bonus
footage, including a documentary shot by Stewart's son Jordan
entitled "Better Than Therapy". The set was released on 11 November
2008 at Best Buy.
Discography
Band members
- Sting: lead vocals, bass guitar
(1977–1984, 1986, 2003, 2007–2008)
- Andy Summers: guitar, backing
vocals (1977–1984, 1986, 2003, 2007–2008)
- Stewart Copeland: drums,
percussion, backing vocals (1977–1984, 1986, 2003,
2007–2008)
- Henry Padovani: guitar
(1977)
Line-ups
| (January 1977–July 1977) |
|
| (July 1977–August 1977) |
|
| (August 1977–March 1984) |
|
| (April 1984–December 2006) |
(The Police disbanded) |
| (January 2007–August 2008) |
|
Awards
BRIT Awards
- 1982: Best British Group
- 1985: Outstanding Contribution To Music
Grammy Awards
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
See also
Notes
-
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gifyxqr5ldhe~T1
- Copeland 1995.
- Sting 2003.
- Obrecht, Jan. "Andy Summers".
-
http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gifyxqr5ldhe~T1
- The Police reunion at Grammys
- The Police to play "Roxanne" at Grammys
- Police Reunion Rumors Reaching Fever Pitch -
Billboard, 3 January 2007
- Police to reunite for Grammy gig
- Stewart Copeland on his own forum
- Sting Can't Wait To Be A Solo Singer Again
- Inductee List, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Accessed 24 July 2009.
References
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