History Music / Sting

* GreatestHitsAlbum: ''Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994'' compiled his hits up to that point along with a new single, "When We Dance." The 2011 collection ''25 Years'', which includes 31 tracks, necessarily included some non-hits. There was also a compilation of his solo and Police hits released in 1997.

* GreatestHitsAlbum: ''Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting 1984-1994'' compiled his hits up to that point along with a new single, "When We Dance."
The 2011 collection ''25 Years'', which includes 31 tracks, necessarily included some non-hits. There was also a compilation of his solo and Police hits released in 1997.

* StageName: His was bestowed by a member of one of his pre-Police bands, because of a black-and-yellow striped sweater that he wore. The nicknamer was also named Gordon, so this may also be an example of OneSteveLimit.

* DiscoDan: Sting admitted in his memoir that the bands he played with before ThePolice were almost defiantly behind the times, playing jazz and show tunes while glam rock and heavy metal were climbing the charts. It was Stewart Copeland who dragged him somewhere in the vicinity of coolness by bringing punk and reggae beats to his songs. After he went solo, Sting started sounding lighter and jazzier again, and in 2006 left pop music entirely (see GenreShift below).

!!Discography:

* OnlyOneName: According to him, everyone calls him Sting now, even his family.
* OopNorth: Sting was born and raised in Newcastle, which inspired his stage musical and album ''The Last Ship'', about the decline of the shipbuilding industry there. Newcastle imagery also features prominently on ''The Soul Cages.''

Not to be confused with [[Wrestling/{{Sting}} the wrestler]].

* GenreShift: After 20 years of producing pop albums, in 2006 Sting dove into Elizabethan music with ''Songs from the Labyrinth''. He stayed in the classical groove for a while, not putting out a new pop album until 2016.

!!Other appearances:

* ''Series/TheLarrySandersShow'' (1996)
* ''Series/AllyMcBeal'' (2001)

* LetsDuet: An increasingly common practice in the later part of his career. Duet partners have included Music/MaryJBlige, Music/DireStraits and Music/SherylCrow.

* OopNorth: Sting was born and raised in Newcastle, which inspired his stage musical and album ''The Last Ship'', about the decline of the shipbuilding industry there. Newcastle imagery also featured prominently on ''The Soul Cages.''

* ''Series/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' (1990-92)

* ''The Last Ship'' (2014)

* AwardBaitSong: "All For Love," a collaboration with Music/BryanAdams and Music/RodStewart for ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1993'', as well as "My Funny Friend and Me" for ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove''. The latter won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
* BasedOnADream: Several of his songs. The title of his first solo album, ''The Dream of the Blue Turtles'', came from a dream in which blue turtles were digging up his garden.

* UncommonTime: Sting's jazzier numbers are often in oddball time signatures. "Straight To My Heart" is in 7/4, "Seven Days" is in 5/4, "St. Augustine in Hell" is in 7/8, among others.

* BookWorm: Sting loves to read, and his lyrics are packed with literary references. "Moon Over Bourbon Street," for example, is based on ''Literature/InterviewWithAVampire,'' and "The Soul Cages" is based on a story in Creator/WilliamButlerYeats' collection of Irish folk tales. Also see ShoutOutToShakespeare below.

* EvolvingMusic: ''Symphonicities'' is a whole album of Sting's songs rearranged for a symphony orchestra.

* OopNorth: Sting was born in raised in Newcastle, which inspired his stage musical and album ''The Last Ship'', about the decline of the shipbuilding industry there. Newcastle imagery also featured prominently on ''The Soul Cages.''

* AwardBaitSong: "All For Love," a collaboration with Music/BryanAdams and Music/RodStewart for ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1993'', as well as "My Funny Friend and Me" from ''Disney/TheEmperorsNewGroove''. The latter won the Oscar for Best Original Song.
* BasedOnADream: Several of his songs. The title of his first solo album, ''Dream of the Blue Turtles'', came from a dream in which blue turtles were digging up his garden.

** ''If on a Winter's Night...'' is named after Creator/ItaloCalvino's novel Literature/IfOnAWintersNightATraveler.

* {{Rockumentary}}: ''Bring On the Night'' documented the making of ''Dream of the Blue Turtles'' and other songs Sting created right after leaving Music/ThePolice.

Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, a.k.a. Sting (born 2 October, 1951), is an English singer-songwriter and sometime actor who launched a successful solo career after a short but spectacular run fronting Music/ThePolice. Without Stewart Copeland's influence his sound became mellower, and he became a staple of Adult Contemporary radio stations, while still dabbling in a variety of genres.

Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, a.k.a. Sting (b. Oct. 2, 1951), is an English singer-songwriter and sometime actor who launched a successful solo career after a short but spectacular run fronting Music/ThePolice. Without Stewart Copeland's influence his sound became mellower, and he became a staple of Adult Contemporary radio stations, while still dabbling in a variety of genres.

Some of his most popular songs include "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free," "Fortress Around Your Heart," "We'll Be Together," "All This Time," and "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You." "Desert Rose," released in 2000, was his last hit single in the U.S., though he's enjoyed somewhat greater longevity in Europe.

* SpiritualAntithesis: Sting was a bit put out that his most famous song with Music/ThePolice was a StalkerSong, "Every Breath You Take." So he wrote "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" as a direct negation of it. ("Fortress Around Your Heart," from the same album, echoes the theme.)

* ''Film/BeeMovie'' (2007)

* AwardBaitSong: "All For Love," a collaboration with Music/BryanAdams and Music/RodStewart for ''Film/TheThreeMusketeers1993'', as well as "My Funny Friend and Me" from ''Film/TheEmperorsNewGroove''. The latter won the Oscar for Best Original Song.

* Rockumentary: ''Bring On the Night'' documented the making of ''Dream of the Blue Turtles'' and other songs Sting created right after leaving Music/ThePolice.

* LetsDuet: An increasingly common practice in the later part of his career. Duet partners have included Music/MaryJBlige, Music/VicenteAmigo and Music/SherylCrow.

* ShoutOutToShakespeare: The Bard is quoted several times in Sting's lyrics. The album title ''...Nothing Like the Sun'' comes from one of Shakespeare's sonnets, which is quoted more fully in the song "Sister Moon."

Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, a.k.a. Sting (b. Oct. 2, 1952), is an English singer-songwriter and sometime actor who launched a successful solo career after a short but spectacular run fronting Music/ThePolice. Without Stewart Copeland's influence his sound became mellower, and he became a staple of Adult Contemporary radio stations, while still dabbling in a variety of genres.

[[redirect:Music/ThePolice]]