2009 Sting

Are we back in the ’80s? No, but we’re lining up for tickets to Sting and the Police, back making music together like they did back then! Let Coast to Coast help you lock up the Police tickets people have been waiting for since Sting launched his solo career in 1984.

Sting's solo career actually began in 1982, two years before the break-up of the Police, for whom he was lead singer and bass player. While continuing to tour and record with the Police, he also co-wrote and appeared on the Dire Straits hit 'Money For Nothing' and sang harmonies on Phil Collins' No Jacket Required.

By 1985, however, the other members of the Police were pursuing solo interests and Sting formed a touring band, the Blue Turtles. It included leading New York jazz figures such as Branford Marsalis (alto saxophone), Kenny Kirkland (keyboards) and Omar Hakim (drums). The group recorded his first solo album at Eddy Grant's studio in Jamaica before Marsalis and Sting performed at the Live Aid concert with Phil Collins. As a result, Sting developed the more cerebral lyrics found on the final Police album, Synchronicity, bringing big international hits with 'If You Love Somebody Set Them Free', 'Fortress Around Your Heart', and 'Russians'.

In 1985, Michael Apted directed Bring On The Night, an in-concert film about Sting and his touring band (a live album was also released). Following a tour with the Blue Turtles, Sting recorded 1987's Nothing Like The Sun (a title taken from a Shakespeare sonnet) with Marsalis and Police guitarist Andy Summers plus guests Ruben Blades, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler. The album was an instant success internationally and contained 'They Dance Alone (Gueca Solo)', Sting's tribute to the victims of repression in Argentina, in addition to a notable recording of Jimi Hendrix's 'Little Wing'. This track featured one of the last orchestral arrangements by the late Gil Evans.

The same year Sting took part in Amnesty International's Human Rights Now! international tour and devoted much of the following two years to campaigning and fund-raising activity on behalf of environmental causes, notably highlighting the plight of the Indians of the Brazilian rainforest. He set up his own label, Pangaea, in the late '80s to release material by jazz and avant garde artists. In August 1990, a track from Nothing Like The Sun, 'An Englishman In New York', reached number 15 in the UK charts after being remixed by Ben Liebrand.

In 1991, Sting released the autobiographical The Soul Cages from which 'All This Time' reached number 5 on the US Billboard charts. He continued in a similar vein with Ten Summoner's Tales, which contained further high quality hit singles including 'If I Ever Lose My Faith In You' and 'Fields Of Gold'.

'All For Love', a collaboration with Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart for the movie The Three Musketeers, topped the US charts in November 1993, and reached number 2 in the UK in January 1994. This single confirmed that Sting's audience had shifted from new wave/college rock fans to adult contemporary, and the 1994 compilation Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting played to that audience. Fields Of Gold highlighted Sting's considerable accomplishment as one of the finest quality songwriters to appear out of the second UK "new wave" boom (post-1977). The collection featured two new tracks, 'When We Dance' and 'This Cowboy Song', the former providing Sting with his highest charting UK solo single when it reached number 9 in October 1994.

Three years after Ten Summoner's Tales, Sting released Mercury Falling in the spring of 1996 and he remained a popular concert attraction, confirming his immense popularity. Brand New Day followed in 1999, reestablishing himself as a viable commercial artist instead of merely settling for living legend status. Part of this success was due to 'Desert Rose', featuring vocalist Farhat Bougallagui's careening cadences that garnered attention, particularly when they were showcased in a car commercial that kicked the album into high commercial gear.

Sacred Love was Sting's mature and precise 2003 offering. In 2006, he took on the challenge of playing and singing lute, thoughtfully bringing to life music dating back to the 1500s in Songs from the Labyrinth. 2007 marks the 30th anniversary of 'Roxanne', the hit that launched The Police, and it seems a fitting time for Sting and the multiple-Grammy-winning group to reunite and celebrate. Get your Police tickets here and celebrate, too!