Sting Tickets

Born Gordon Sumner in 1951, Sting first found fame as lead singer with rock band, The Police, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. A teacher by day, he would perform in jazz and rock bands by night, and got his nickname after wearing a bright, hooped yellow and black jumper onstage one night. Sting moved to London in 1977 and formed The Police with Stewart Copeland and Henry Padovani (later replaced by Andy Summers), and the band enjoyed huge success, particularly in the UK, with hits such as “Every Breath You Take” and “Roxanne”. Although the group never officially split up, they agreed to work on their own solo projects from as early as 1981, and Sting made his first concert appearances on his own when he performed all four nights of Amnesty International's Secret Policeman's Other Ball the same year, which marked his trademark involvement with political and social awareness causes.

He released his first solo single, “Spread A Little Happiness”, in 1982, which came from the soundtrack of the film version of Dennis Potter's play, Brimstone And Treacle, in which he also appeared. His first solo album, The Dream Of The Blue Turtles, came out in 1985, and included the singles “Russians” and “If You Love Somebody Set Them Free”. Sting also sang on Dire Straits' hit, “Money For Nothing”, and appeared at Live Aid in 1985, having been instrumental in the previous year's Band Aid charity single, “Do They Know It's Christmas?”. In 1987, he released the album ...Nothing Like The Sun, which produced the hits “Fragile” and “Englishman in New York”, and was followed by a shorter album, Nada como el sol (1988), containing five of the songs from ...Nothing Like The Sun, sung in Portuguese and Spanish.

In 1991, The Soul Cages was released and gave him a US Top 10 hit, “All This Time”, then in 1993, Ten Summoner's Tales, narrowly missed the No.1 spot in both the UK and US album charts, although it was nominated for that year's Mercury Prize (losing to Suede's self-titled album), and also for a Grammy. The singles “Fields Of Gold” and “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You”, remain two of his most well-known solo efforts. In 1994, he won “Best British Male” at the BRITs and in 1996 he released his next album, Mercury Falling. In 1997, he performed at the MTV Video Music Awards with Puff Daddy on “I'll Be Missing You”, which had sampled “Every Breath You Take”.

In 1999, the album Brand New Day was a chart success, and he won a Grammy in 2001 for his version of “She Walks This Earth (Soberana Rosa)”. In 2002, he was Oscar-nominated for the song “Until...” from the film Kate And Leopold, and he received a BRIT the same year for his “Outstanding Contribution to Music”. Also that year, he received a CBE and an Emmy, and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2004, he published his autobiography, Broken Music, and toured with Annie Lennox, before appearing at Live 8 in 2005. In 2006, the album Songs From The Labyrinth, used classical music and interpretations of Renaissance composer, John Dowland, and received mixed reviews, before 2007 saw him rejoin his former band members from The Police for a world tour which lasted over a year.

In 2009, he released the album, If On A Winter's Night..., and in 2010 performed sell out concerts in Dubai and Kiev, amongst others. In 2011, he began another tour, in support of his latest album, Symphonicities.