The lead vocalist, songwriter, and bassist for the rock band The Police Sting, an English singer and songwriter.
Gordon Sumner, or Sting, grew up in a Roman Catholic family and attended Catholic grammar and secondary schools. From an early age, Sting showed interest in music; he liked many different things, the Beatles, Thelonious Monk, and John Coltrane.
In the ‘70s, while in school, Sumner performed in local clubs, mostly with jazz bands such as Phoenix Jazzmen and Last Exit; there, one of his Phoenix Jazzmen bandmates nicknamed him Sting because of the black-and-yellow striped sweater he often wore while performing.
Sting taught at St. Paul’s First School for two years after graduating, then he moved to London and joined musicians Stewart Copeland and Henri Padovani, who was then replaced by Andy Summers.
The three formed a band they called the Police, with Sting as the songwriter. They produced Roxanne, Every Breath You Take, and other songs. The Police became very successful, but Sting decided the group should take a break, so it disbanded in 1984 after winning two Grammy Awards.
During this time, Sting got his first role in the film Brimstone and Treacle. He even wrote a song, “Spread a Little Happiness,” for the soundtrack.
Sting then began a career as a solo artist; he worked with several jazz musicians, including Branford Marsalis. His albums included Nothing Like the Sun, The Soul Cages, Ten Summoner’s Tales, and Mercury Falling.
Alongside his success in music, Sting appeared in several films, including Dune, Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. He also worked on soundtracks for films such as The Mighty and The Emperor’s New Groove.
His most popular solo album, Brand New Day, was released in 1999. In 2007, Sting performed together with his band The Police on the Grammy Awards television broadcast, and the band announced it would tour for the first time in over two decades.
In 2013, Sting released the album The Last Ship and made his Broadway debut as a lyricist and composer a year later with the launch of The Last Ship.
“I think I’ve been writing the songs for this musical all my life. They emerged around 2011 or 2012 as if they’d been sitting inside me for decades. I described it as projectile vomiting. They just came out in a flood. Shipyard was the first song I wrote and it arrived almost fully formed. The musical is based on people I knew, people from my community, my father, my mother and myself. It’s not a straight autobiography by any means, but there’s a lot of me in the play,” he said.
Sting starred in a newly adapted version of his musical The Last Ship at the Metropolitan Opera House for nine limited performances in June 2026.
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