Sting

Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner born 2 October 1951 known as Sting is an English singersongwriter musician activist and actor He was the frontman principal songwriter and bassist for new wave band the Police from 1977 until their breakup in 1986 He launched a solo career in 1985 and has included elements of rock jazz reggae classical newage and worldbeat in his music Sting has sold a combined total of more than 100 million records as a solo artist and as a member of the Police He has received three Brit Awards including Best British Male Artist in 1994 and Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2002 a Golden Globe an Emmy and four Academy Award nominations As a solo musician and as a member of the Police Sting has received 17 Grammy Awards He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Police in 2003 Sting has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters Composers and Authors a CBE from Queen Elizabeth II for services to music Kennedy Center Honors and the Polar Music Prize In May 2023 he was made an Ivor Novello Fellow Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner was born at Sir G B Hunter Memorial Hospital in Wallsend Northumberland England on 2 October 1951 the eldest of four children of Audrey née Cowell a hairdresser and Ernest Matthew Sumner a milkman and former fitter at an engineering works He grew up near Wallsends shipyards which made an impression on him As a child he was inspired by the Queen Mother waving at him from a RollsRoyce to divert from the shipyard prospect towards a more glamorous life He helped his father deliver milk and by ten was obsessed with an old Spanish guitar left by an emigrating friend of his father Sting attended St Cuthberts Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne He visited nightclubs such as Club AGogo to see Cream and Manfred Mann who influenced his music He learned to sing and play simultaneously by listening to records at 78 rpm After leaving school in 1969 he enrolled at the University of Warwick in Coventry but left after a term After working as a bus conductor building labourer and tax officer he attended the Northern Counties College of Education now Northumbria University from 1971 to 1974 and qualified as a teacher20 He taught at St Pauls First School in Cramlington for two years Sting performed jazz in the evenings at weekends and during breaks from college and teaching playing with the Phoenix Jazzmen Newcastle Big Band and Last Exit He gained his nickname after his habit of wearing a black and yellow jumper with hooped stripes with the Phoenix Jazzmen Bandleader Gordon Solomon thought he looked like a bee or according to Sting himself they thought I looked like a wasp which prompted the name Sting In the 1985 documentary Bring On the Night a journalist called him Gordon to which he replied My children call me Sting my mother calls me Sting who is this Gordon character In 2011 he told Time I was never called Gordon You could shout Gordon in the street and I would just move out of your way Despite this he chose not to legally change his name to Sting Source Article Sting musician from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA