The Police

Formed in London, The Police are one of the most widely known rock groups in the world. Better known as – Sting (Bass/ Vocals), Andy Stewart (Guitar) and Stewart (Copeland) – they crossed their guitar based sound with reggae influences.

American born Stewart Copeland founded The Police in 1977 through his desire to become part of the London music scene. In London, Copeland soon met Sting and guitarist Henry Padovani and within on month of recording together they released the first Police single, ‘Fall Out.’ The bands acting manager, Paul Mulligan, paid for the production costs of the release.

In July 1977, The Police became a four piece after Sting added veteran guitarist Andy Summers to the line-up. It soon became clear, however, that Padovini’s guitar skills were limited and he left the band shortly after a collapsed recording session in August 1977.

Once the band had settled on the three piece line-up of Sting, Copeland and Summers, they set about working on their debut album without any funding. However, when Copeland’s brother heard a demo recording of ‘Roxanne,’ The Police were signed to A&M Records. Released in 1978, and then again in 1979, the acclaimed single helped build Police’s already strong support base in the UK, as well as helping them expand into new territories.

The band followed the re-release of ‘Roxanne’ with their debut album, ‘Outlandos d’Amour’ which reached number six in the UK charts in November 1978. Although their debut was well received the band achieved world wide recognition upon the release of their second album, ‘Reggatta de Blanc,’ in October 1979. The album also spawned the band’s first number one single, ‘Message In A Bottle.’

Hot on the heels of their albums success, The Police ventured out on their first world tour in 1980, becoming the first band to play in Mexico City and Bombay, amongst other new territories.

The groups third album, ‘Zenyatta Mondatta,’ followed soon after the world tour had been completed - it’s now believed that the band were under pressure from their label to produce a quick follow-up. Released in the autumn of 1980, the album, like its predecessor, included a number of hit singles – most notably, ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me,’ which won a Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance.

Like many bands of the period, The Police were hit by inter-band relationship problems because of their growing success after 1980. As well as performing with the band, Sting branched out into acting, starring in a number of movies. As Sting’s notoriety grew, his relationship with the bands founder Copeland began to suffer.  The most obvious sign of their problems was highlighted by the band’s inability to settle on an album cover for their forth album, ‘Ghost In The Machine.’ They finally went for three red digital pictographs of the band.

Despite their differences, the band were able to record and release what was to become their last album, ‘Synchronicity,’ in 1983. The album included one of the groups most successful singles, ‘Every Breath You Take,’ which was covered most famously by the rapper Puff Daddy in the late nineties.

Following the world tour which the band embarked on in support of their album, each member went away to work on their own projects. When, in 1985, Sting released his successful debut solo album, ‘The Dream Of The Blue Turtles,’ it became clear that he had no intention of rejoining the band. Although the band never officially parted company, they didn’t record any more material together.

As the band members continued to work on their own projects throughout the eighties and nineties, for everyone that thought Police were no more, a decision by the band to reunite in 2007 to mark their 30th anniversary came as a huge surprise. After much speculation, The Police finally reunited on stage at the 49th Grammy awards in February 2007.  The band will embark on a reunion tour across the globe later in 2007.