Gordon Sumner: biography and photos

Musician Gordon Sumner is best known as Sting - this is his nickname, which he chose to perform on stage. The vocalist and multi-instrumentalist achieved world recognition as the frontman of the British band The Police. After its disintegration, the musician began a solo career. In addition, behind his shoulders there are several serious roles in the big cinema.

early years

Gordon Sumner was born on October 2, 1951 in Waldsend - an important industrial center of Great Britain. For years of hard work his father could afford to buy a store. My mother was a hairdresser and a nurse. The family raised Gordon in Catholic traditions. He even served for a while in the local church. However, in his youth the musician departed from Christian traditions - his way of life had little in common with the church.

After graduation in school, the young man entered the pedagogical college. He did not have a scholarship, so the young man had to work in a variety of places. He was both a bus conductor and a small official of a state institution. After completing her education, Gordon Sumner began teaching at the school. Such a measured life lasted for only two years.

First performances

Music Gordon Sumner was carried away during his studies in college. He did not have a favorite instrument - he played the piano and the guitar with equal pleasure. The future Sting did not abandon music even at the time he taught at school. The famous performer even recalled that he often rehearsed in the assembly hall during the changes, when he had the opportunity to leave the office.

His first participation in local groups also belongs to this period. They were short-lived bands playing in pubs and other places of entertainment. In them Sumner gained experience and honed his skill. From the very beginning of his career, he declared himself as a leader. In order to become it, the musician had only to create his own band.

The appearance of The Police

In the second half of the 70's, the world rock scene experienced times of stagnation. Recognized leaders fizzled out, and new teams still existed in the underground. Against this background, and appeared The Police trio, the vocalist in which was Gordon Sumner. As a singer, he in the first years of his career proved himself in numerous jazz and rock bands.

The Police originated after the fateful meeting of Gordon and drummer Stuart Copland. They immediately agreed on common musical tastes. The enterprisingness of youth prompted them that it is time to think about creating their own band (before that they played as guest performers). It remains only to find a guitar player. They became their good friend Henry Podovani. Samner Gordon himself became a bass player and part-time vocalist.

Musical roots of the collective

The first recorded trio song was Fall Out. It immediately became popular in English clubs, where local youth reacted vividly to any interesting novelty.

In the late 70's in the UK experienced the heyday of punk rock. This style originated in a deep underground, but by the time the The Police appeared to be a popular and popular genre. The icon of the style was the group Sex Pistols. Her work from the very beginning had a significant influence on the music that Gordon wrote Matthew Sumner.

Punk rock was the most successful choice that young and ambitious guys could do. By that time it was already too late to play music in the spirit of Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Pink Floyd or any other cult group. Become famous in this niche was impossible. But punk rock was on the crest of a wave. However, even then Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner added to his works and other genres, for example, reggae or a new wave.

The success of the group

A few months after the start of active activities Padovani decided to leave the project. In his place was Andy Summers. In this composition, the trio recorded their debut album Outlandos d'Amour. In the yard was in 1978. Several songs from this record immediately became international hits. On young guys, the national glory of new and long-awaited rock stars fell.

In the following years the band recorded four more studio albums. The main composer in the band was Sting (that's when he took the habit of using his stage name). With each new record, his music increasingly moved away from the original punk rock. In the early 80's The Police released more soft-sounding albums, which can be attributed to the genre of a new war (or in another way a new wave). Each release was successful, the band went on a world tour year after year, possessing one of the most recognizable and claimed signage.

The last album The Police - Synchronicity - appeared on the shelves in 1983. Then the band went on a tour, after which they suddenly stopped working. And although in the next several decades the eminent collective periodically gathered again to give several concerts, the creative paths of the three musicians completely separated.

Solo albums

The history of rock music knows many examples, when a well-known group disintegrated, and its participants were taken for solo performances. Was not an exception and Sumner Gordon. The musical works written by him when he was frontman of The Police were performed by the vocalist in the 80's and in the 90's. However, a solo career could not be full without own albums.

Therefore it is not surprising that relatively quickly after the disintegration of the former collective Sting in 1985 released his first record The Dream of the Blue Turtles. The album appeared on sale not under the real name of the artist, but with his pseudonym.

Of the songs recorded in 1985, singles Russians stand out. Sting wrote this composition, dedicating it to the Russian people, the fear of nuclear war and tension in the world. Indeed, in the mid-1980s the Cold War reached its peak. Songs about the threat of use of nuclear weapons were written by many rock bands (for example, Iron Maiden). So the creative impulse of Sumner in this direction is not surprising.

Nickname History

Since then and until now, Sting regularly releases new albums and continues to perform at concerts. It's hard to say what his name is more associated with today - with The Police or with a solo career. In one way or another, but that and the other creative path turned out to be successful.

Sting's nickname came in the 70's, when he played in one of his first little-known bands Phoenix Jazzmen. In the team there was a tradition, according to which each participant had to get a stage name. Sumner called Sting because of his sweater in black and yellow stripes (he looked like a bee). Sting is translated from English as "sting". From that moment on, he began to wear this pseudonym Gordon Sumner. A photo with a musician is often signed with both a real name and a fictitious one.

Career in film

Sting, like many other creative personalities, never stopped at one kind of art. The popularity of The Police allowed him to make a good career in the cinema. Sumner starred in more than ten films. To many of them he himself composed soundtracks, thus combining two favorite deeds.

Among the most famous roles of Sting on a larger screen can be attributed to his appearance in the film Lynch "Dune".

This picture appeared in theaters in 1984. The film was filmed based on Frank Herbert's cult novel of the same name. The picture was a momentous event. In it, viewers could see for the first time the most modern special effects at that time. Sting played one of the antagonists - Na-baron of the Harkonnen family.