The police

BIOGRAPHY
From their early beginnings, The Police were hailed as a maverick live band - a group that galvanized an already impressive studio sound into something otherworldly when performing. Combining controlled energy and evocative melodies, Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers played with the improvisational instincts of a jazz trio and the raw energy of a punk-rock band - a blend thatmade them one of the definitive rock groups of the'70s and '80s.

The group originally broke through at the same time that punk was shaking up the music scene in the late 70's. Each member came from a different musical background: Summers played with The Animals, Soft Machine and Kevin Ayers, Copeland was a member of Curved Air and had a brief solo career as Klark Kent, while Sting had played invarious jazz fusion groups. The band manifested an understated virtuosity, applying their chops within reggae grooves and intricate arrangements. Between Summers' trenchant and ground breaking guitar work, Copeland's deceptively complex polyrhythms and Sting's loping bass and soaring vocals, The Police were indisputably the most adventurous ambassadors of the genre then known as new wave.

Theirfirst album, Outlandos D'Amour debuted on A&M Records in 1978 and quickly climbed the charts with such hits as Roxanne and So Lonely. The following year saw the release of their sophomore record Reggatta de Blanc which also topped the charts and brought us such hits as Message in a Bottle and Walking on the Moon as well as honoring the band with their first Grammy for the record's title track.Zenyatta Mondatta soon followed in 1980, resulting in two more Grammy awards for the group as well as Top Ten hits Don't Stand So Close To Me and De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da. In 1981, The Police put out Ghost in the Machine which went double platinum with hit singles Every Little Thing She Does is Magic and Spirits in the Material World.

After a year-long sabbatical, the members reunited to recordSynchronicity, an album that would prove to be their studio swansong and earn them three Grammy Awards in the process. The most successful Police album yet, it produced Every Breath You Take, one of the most-remembered rock ballads of the '80s and the recipient of the 2005 BMI Award for Eight Million Radio Plays. They were ranked the #1 most played band on U.S. radio in the '80s while achievingcomparable success in the UK with 5 number one albums and singles to their credit. In 1982, The Police received the Brit Award for Best Group and in 1985 were honored with the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.

After the band parted ways in 1984, their individual careers continued to flourish. Sting released Dream of the Blue Turtles in 1985, which featured a cast ofaccomplished jazz musicians, including Kenny Kirkland, Darryl Jones, Omar Hakim, and Branford Marsalis. Sting's solo success continued with the release of Bring On The Night, Nothing Like The Sun, The Soul Cages, Ten Summoner's Tales, Mercury Falling, Brand New Day, All This Time, Sacred Love, and his latest endeavor, Songs from the Labyrinth, a personal tribute to 16th century composer John Dowland,which debuted at #1 on Billboards' Classical chart, where it remained for 15 consecutive weeks. In 1979, Sting made his cinematic debut in the film adaptation of "Quadrophenia" and has appeared in 14 films since, including the cult classic "Dune". Most recently, he also executive produced the critically acclaimed, "A Guide To Recognizing Your Saints". He also enjoyed a stint on the Broadway stagewhen he starred in the 1989 production of "Threepenny Opera". In 2003, Sting published a memoir entitled Broken Music, which spent 13 weeks on the New York Times Best Sellers list. Simply put, Sting has evolved into one of the world's most distinctive and highly respected performers, collecting as a solo artist an additional 11 Grammys in addition to 2 Brits, a Golden Globe, an Emmy, three Oscar...