The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.

Their 1978 debut album, Outlandos d'Amour, reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart on the strength of the singles "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You". Their second album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979), became the first of four consecutive No. 1 studio albums in the UK and Australia; its first two singles, "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon", became their first UK number ones. Their next two albums, Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) and Ghost in the Machine (1981), led to further critical and commercial success with two songs, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", becoming UK number-one singles and Top 5 hits in other countries; the former album was their breakthrough into the US reaching number five on the US Billboard 200.

Their final studio album, Synchronicity (1983), was No. 1 in the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy and the US, selling over 8 million copies in the US. Its lead single, "Every Breath You Take", became their fifth UK number one, and only US number one. During this time, the band were considered one of the leaders of the Second British Invasion of the US; in 1983 Rolling Stone labelled them "the first British New Wave act to break through in America on a grand scale, and possibly the biggest band in the world." The Police disbanded in 1986, but reunited in early 2007 for a one-off world tour that ended in August 2008. They were the world's highest-earning musicians in 2008, due to their reunion tour, which was the highest-grossing tour of 2007.

The Police have sold over 75 million records, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. The band won a number of music awards, including six Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards?winning Best British Group once, and an MTV Video Music Award. In 2003, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Four of their five studio albums appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The band were included among both Rolling Stone's and VH1's lists of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".

History

1977: Formation

On 25 September 1976, while on tour with the British progressive rock band Curved Air in Newcastle upon Tyne, in the northeast of England, the band's American drummer, Stewart Copeland, met and exchanged phone numbers with ambitious singer-bassist Gordon Sumner a.k.a. Sting, who at the time was playing in a jazz-rock fusion band called Last Exit. On 12 January 1977, Sting relocated to London, and on the day of his arrival, sought out Copeland for a jam session.

Curved Air had recently split up and Copeland, inspired by the contemporary punk rock movement, was eager to form a new band to join the burgeoning London punk scene. While less keen, Sting acknowledged the commercial opportunities, so they formed the Police as a trio, with Corsican guitarist Henry Padovani recruited as the third member. After their debut concert on 1 March 1977 at the Alexandria Club in Newport, Wales (which lasted only ten minutes), the group played London pubs and punk clubs touring as backing band and support act for Cherry Vanilla and for Wayne County & the Electric Chairs. On 1 May 1977, the Police released on Illegal Records their debut single "Fall Out", recorded at Pathway Studios in Islington, North London on 12 February 1977 (a couple of weeks before the band's debut live performance), with a budget of £150. This is the only Police recording featuring Padovani. Mick Jagger reviewed the single in Sounds magazine.

Also in May 1977, former Gong musician Mike Howlett invited Sting to join him in the band project Strontium 90. The drummer Howlett had in mind, Chris Cutler, was unavailable, so Sting took Copeland. The band's fourth member was guitarist Andy Summers. A decade older than Sting and Copeland, Summers was a music industry veteran who had played with Eric Burdon and the Animals and Kevin Ayers among others. Strontium 90 performed at a Gong reunion concert in Paris on 28 May 1977, and played at a London club (under the name of "the Elevators") in July. The band also recorded several demo tracks: these were released (along with live recordings and an early version of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic") 20 years later on the archive album Strontium 90: Police Academy.

Summers' musicality impressed Sting, who was becoming frustrated with Padovani's rudimentary abilities and the limitations they imposed on the Police's potential. Shortly after the Strontium 90 gig, Sting approached Summers to join the band. He agreed, on the condition the band remain a trio, with him replacing Padovani. Restrained by loyalty, Copeland and Sting resisted the idea, and the Police carried on as a four-piece version. However, they only performed live twice: on 25 July 1977 at the Music Machine in London and on 5 August at the Mont de Marsan Punk Festival. Shortly after these two gigs (and an aborted recording session with ex-Velvet Underground member John Cale as producer on 10 August), Summers delivered an ultimatum to the band and Padovani was dismissed. The effect of Summers's arrival was instant: Copeland said: "One by one, Sting's songs had started coming in, and when Andy joined, it opened up new numbers of Sting's we could do, so the material started to get a lot more interesting and Sting started to take a lot more interest in the group."

The Police's power trio line-up of Copeland, Sting, and Summers performed for the first time on 18 August 1977 at Rebecca's club in Birmingham in the West Midlands. A trio was unusual for the time, and this line-up endured for the rest of the band's history. Few punk bands were three-pieces, while contemporary bands pursuing progressive rock, symphonic rock and other sound trends usually expanded their line-ups with support players. The musical background of all three players may have made them suspect to punk purists, with music critic Christopher Gable stating,

The truth is that the band merely utilized the trappings of 1970s British punk: the bleached blond short hair, Sting in his jumpsuits or army jackets, Copeland and his near maniacal drumming style. In fact, they were criticized by other punk bands for not being authentic and lacking 'street cred'. What The Police did perhaps take from punk was a brand of nervous, energetic disillusion with 1970s Britain.

The band were also able to draw on influences from reggae to jazz to progressive and pub rock. While still maintaining the main band and attempting to win over punk audiences, Police members continued to moonlight within the art rock scene. In late 1977 and early 1978, Sting and Summers recorded and performed as part of an ensemble led by German experimental composer Eberhard Schoener; Copeland also joined for a time. These performances resulted in three albums, each of them an eclectic mix of rock, electronica and jazz. Various appearances by the Schoener outfit on German television made the German public aware of Sting's unusual high-pitched voice, and helped pave the way for the Police's later popularity.

The bleached-blond hair that became a band trademark happened by accident. In February 1978, the band, desperate for money, was asked to do a commercial for Wrigley's Spearmint chewing gum (directed by Tony Scott) on the condition they dye their hair blond. The commercial was shot with the band, but was shelved and never aired.

1977-1978: Recording contract and Outlandos d'Amour

Copeland's older brother Miles was initially sceptical of the inclusion of Summers in the band, fearing it would undermine their punk credibility, and reluctantly agreed to provide £1,500 to finance the Police's first album. Recording Outlandos d'Amour was difficult, as the band was working on a small budget, with no manager or record deal. It was recorded during off-peak hours at the Surrey Sound Studios in Leatherhead, Surrey, a converted recording facility above a dairy which was run by brothers Chris and Nigel Gray.

During one of his periodic studio visits, Miles heard "Roxanne" for the first time at the end of a session. Where he had been less enthusiastic about the band's other songs, the elder Copeland was immediately struck by the track, and quickly got the Police a record deal with A&M Records on the strength of it. "Roxanne" was issued as a single in the spring of 1978, while other album tracks were still being recorded, but it failed to chart. It also failed to make the BBC's playlist, which the band attributed to the song's depiction of prostitution. A&M consequently promoted the single with posters claiming "Banned by the BBC", though this was a misconception. It was never banned, just not play-listed. Copeland later admitted, "We got a lot of mileage out of it being supposedly banned by the BBC."

The Police made their first television appearance in October 1978, on BBC2's The Old Grey Whistle Test to promote the release of Outlandos d'Amour. Though "Roxanne" was never banned, the BBC did ban the second single from Outlandos d'Amour, "Can't Stand Losing You". This was due to the single's cover, which featured Copeland hanging himself over an ice block being melted by a portable radiator. The single became a minor chart hit, the Police's first, peaking at No. 42 in the UK. The follow-up single, "So Lonely", issued in November 1978, failed to chart. In February 1979, "Roxanne" was issued as a single in North America, where it was warmly received on radio despite the subject matter. The song peaked at No. 31 in Canada and No. 32 in the US, spurring a UK re-release of it in April. The band performed "Roxanne" on BBC1's Top of the Pops, and the re-issue of the song finally gained the band widespread recognition in the UK when it peaked at No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart.

The group's UK success led to gigs in the US at the famous New York City club CBGB, The Rathskeller (The RAT) in Boston and at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, New York, from which "Roxanne" finally debuted on US radio on WPDH, and a gruelling 1979 North American tour in which the band drove themselves and their equipment around the country in a Ford Econoline van. That summer, "Can't Stand Losing You" was also re-released in the UK, becoming a substantial hit, peaking at No. 2. The group's first single, "Fall Out", was reissued in late 1979, peaking at No. 47 in the UK.

1979: Reggatta de Blanc

In October 1979, the group released their second album, Reggatta de Blanc, which topped the UK Albums Chart and became the first of four consecutive UK No. 1 studio albums. The album spawned the hit singles "Message in a Bottle" (No. 1 UK, No. 2 Canada, No. 5 Australia) and "Walking on the Moon" (No. 1 UK). The album's singles failed to enter the US top 40, but Reggatta de Blanc still reached No. 25 on the US album charts.

The band's first live performance of "Message in a Bottle" was on the BBC's television show Rock Goes to College filmed at Hatfield Polytechnic College in Hertfordshire. The instrumental title track "Reggatta de Blanc" won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. In February 1980, the single "So Lonely" was reissued in the UK. Originally a non-charting flop when first issued in late 1978, upon re-release the track became a UK top 10 hit, peaking at No. 6.

In March 1980, the Police began their first world tour, which included places that had seldom hosted foreign performers?including Mexico, India, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Greece and Egypt. The tour was subsequently documented in the film The Police Around the World (1982), directed by Kate and Derek Burbidge, which contains footage shot by Annie Nightingale originally intended for a BBC production The Police in the East.

In May 1980, A&M in the UK released Six Pack, a package containing the five previous A&M singles (not including "Fall Out") in their original sleeves plus a mono alternate take of the album track "The Bed's Too Big Without You" backed with a live version of "Truth Hits Everybody". It reached No. 17 in the UK Singles Chart (although chart regulations introduced later in the decade would have classed it as an album).

1980-1981: Zenyatta Mondatta

Pressured by their record company for a new record and a prompt return to touring, the Police released their third album, Zenyatta Mondatta, in October 1980. The album was recorded in a three-week period in the Netherlands for tax reasons and was completed the night before the band embarked on a new world tour. The album gave the group their third UK No. 1 hit, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" (the UK's best-selling single of 1980) and another hit single, "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da", both of which reached No. 10 in the US.

While the three band members and co-producer Nigel Gray all expressed immediate regret over the rushed recording for the album, which was finished at 4 a.m. on the day the band began their world tour, the album received high praise from critics. The instrumental "Behind My Camel", written by Andy Summers, won the band a Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, while "Don't Stand So Close to Me" won the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance for Duo or Group.

1981-1982: Ghost in the Machine and Brimstone and Treacle

The Police's fourth album, Ghost in the Machine, co-produced by Hugh Padgham, was recorded at Air Studios on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, with the exception of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" which was recorded at Le Studio at Morin Heights, Quebec, Canada, and released in 1981. It featured thicker sounds, layered saxophones, and vocal textures. It spawned the hit singles "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" (featuring pianist Jean Roussel), their fourth UK No. 1 (No. 3 in the U.S.), "Invisible Sun", and "Spirits in the Material World". As the band was unable to agree on a cover picture, the album cover had three red pictographs, digital likenesses of the three band members in the style of segmented LED displays, set against a black background. In the 1980s, Sting and Summers became tax exiles and moved to Ireland (Sting to Roundstone, County Galway, and Summers to Kinsale in County Cork) while Copeland, an American, remained in England. The group opened and closed the 1981 concert film, Urgh! A Music War. The film, which captured the music scene in the wake of punk, was masterminded by Stewart Copeland's brothers Ian and Miles. The film had a limited release but developed a mythic reputation over the years.

At the 1982 Brit Awards in London, the Police received the award for Best British Group. After the Ghost in the Machine Tour concluded in 1982, the group took a sabbatical and each member pursued outside projects. By this time, Sting was becoming a major star, and he established a career beyond the Police by branching out into acting. Back in 1979, he had made a well-received debut as the "Ace Face" in the British drama film Quadrophenia, a film loosely based on The Who's rock opera, followed by a role as a mechanic in love with Eddie Cochran's music in Chris Petit's Radio On. In 1982, Sting furthered his acting career by co-starring in the Richard Loncraine film Brimstone and Treacle. He also had a minor solo hit in the United Kingdom with the movie's theme song, a cover of the 1929 hit "Spread a Little Happiness" (which appeared on the Brimstone & Treacle soundtrack, along with three new Police tracks, "How Stupid Mr Bates", "A Kind of Loving", and "I Burn for You"). Over 1981 and 1982, Summers recorded his first album with Robert Fripp, I Advance Masked.

In 1983, Stewart Copeland composed the musical score for Francis Ford Coppola's film Rumble Fish. The single "Don't Box Me In (theme From Rumble Fish)", a collaboration between Copeland and singer-songwriter Stan Ridgway (of the band Wall of Voodoo) received significant airplay upon release of the film that year. Also in 1983, Sting filmed his first big-budget movie role-playing Feyd-Rautha in David Lynch's Dune. As Sting's fame rose, his relationship with Stewart Copeland deteriorated. Their increasingly strained partnership was further stretched by the pressures of worldwide publicity and fame, conflicting egos, and their financial success. Meanwhile, both Sting's and Summers's marriages failed.

1983: Synchronicity and "The Biggest Band in the World"

In 1983, the Police released their last studio album, Synchronicity, which spawned the hit singles "Every Breath You Take", "Wrapped Around Your Finger", "King of Pain", and "Synchronicity II". By that time, several critics deemed them "the biggest rock band in the world". Recording the album, however, was a tense affair with increasing disputes among the band. The three members recorded their contributions individually in separate rooms and over-dubbed at different times.

The Synchronicity Tour began in Chicago, Illinois in July 1983 at the original Comiskey Park, and on 18 August the band played in front of 70,000 in Shea Stadium, New York. Near the end of the concert, Sting announced: "We'd like to thank the Beatles for lending us their stadium." Looking back, Copeland states, "Playing Shea Stadium was big because, even though I'm a septic tank (rhyming slang for 'Yank'), The Police is an English band and I'm a Londoner - an American Londoner - so it felt like conquering America." They played throughout the UK in December 1983, including four sold out nights at London's Wembley Arena, and the tour ended in Melbourne, Australia on 4 March 1984 at the Melbourne Showgrounds (the final concert featured Sunnyboys, Kids in the Kitchen, Bryan Adams and Australian Crawl, with the Police topping the bill). Sting's look, dominated by his orange-coloured hair (a result of his role in Dune) and tattered clothing, both of which were emphasised in the music videos from the album, carried over into the set for the concert. Except for "King of Pain", the singles were accompanied by music videos directed by Godley & Creme.

Synchronicity became a No. 1 album in both the UK (where it debuted at No. 1) and the US. It stayed at No. 1 in the UK for two weeks and in the US for seventeen weeks. It was nominated for Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, but lost to Michael Jackson's Thriller. "Every Breath You Take" won the Grammy for Song of the Year, beating Jackson's "Billie Jean". "Every Breath You Take" also won the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal, while the album won the Grammy for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal. "Every Breath You Take" also won the American Video Award for Best Group video, and the song won two Ivor Novello Awards in the categories Best Song Musically and Lyrically and Most Performed Work from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors.

1984-1986: Hiatus, aborted sixth studio album

During the group's 1983 Shea Stadium concert, Sting felt performing at the venue was "Everest" and decided to pursue a solo career, according to the documentary The Last Play at Shea. After the Synchronicity tour ended in March 1984, the band went on hiatus while Sting recorded and toured in support of his successful solo debut LP, the jazz-influenced The Dream of the Blue Turtles, released in June 1985; Copeland recorded and filmed The Rhythmatist (1985); and Summers recorded another album with Robert Fripp (Bewitched, 1984) and the theme song for the film 2010?which was not used in the film, but included on the soundtrack album. At the 1985 Brit Awards held at London's Grosvenor Hotel on 11 February, the band received the award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In July the same year, Sting and Copeland participated in Live Aid at Wembley Stadium, London.

In June 1986, the Police reconvened to play three concerts for the Amnesty International A Conspiracy of Hope tour. Their last performance on stage before their split was on 15 June at Giants Stadium in New Jersey. They ended their set with "Invisible Sun", bringing out Bono to sing the final verse. When they finished, they handed U2 their instruments for the all-star finale of "I Shall Be Released". As the lead singer of U2 - who themselves would soon be regarded as the biggest band in the world - Bono stated, "It was a very big moment, like passing a torch."

In July of that year, the trio reunited in the studio to record a new album. However, Copeland broke his collarbone in a fall from a horse and was unable to play the drums. As a result of the tense and short-lived reunion in the studio, "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" was released in October 1986 as their final single and made it into the UK Top 25. It also appeared on the 1986 compilation Every Breath You Take: The Singles, which reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart. A rerecorded version of "De Do Do Do De Da Da Da" was subsequently also included on the DTS-CD release of the Every Breath You Take: The Classics album in 1995. The album has sold over five million copies in the US.

Following the failed effort to record a new studio album, the Police effectively disbanded. In the liner notes to the Police's box set Message in a Box, Summers explains: "The attempt to record a new album was doomed from the outset. The night before we went into the studio Stewart broke his collarbone falling off a horse and that meant we lost our last chance of recovering some rapport just by jamming together. Anyway, it was clear Sting had no real intention of writing any new songs for the Police. It was an empty exercise."

1986-2006: Disbandment

Each band member continued with his solo career over the next 20 years. Sting continued recording and touring as a solo performer to great success. Summers recorded a number of albums, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with other musicians. Copeland became a prolific producer of movie and television soundtracks, and he recorded and toured with two new bands, Animal Logic and Oysterhead. However, a few events did bring the Police back together, albeit briefly. Summers played guitar on Sting's album ...Nothing Like the Sun (1987), a favour the singer returned by playing bass on Summers' album Charming Snakes (1990) and later singing lead vocals on "'Round Midnight" for Summers' tribute to Thelonious Monk Green Chimneys (1999). On 2 October 1991 (Sting's 40th birthday), Summers joined Sting on stage at the Hollywood Bowl during The Soul Cages Tour to perform "Walking on the Moon", "Every Breath You Take", and "Message in a Bottle". The performance was broadcast as a pay-per-view event.

On 22 August 1992, Sting married Trudie Styler in an 11th-century chapel in Wiltshire, southwest England. Summers and Copeland were invited to the ceremony and reception. Aware that all band members were present, the wedding guests pressured the trio into playing, and they performed "Roxanne" and "Message in a Bottle". Copeland said later that "after about three minutes, it became 'the thing' again". In 1995 A&M released Live!, a double live album produced by Summers featuring two complete concerts?one recorded on 27 November 1979 at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston during the Reggatta de Blanc tour, and one recorded on 2 November 1983 at the Omni in Atlanta, Georgia, during the Synchronicity Tour (the latter was also documented in the VHS tape Synchronicity Concert in 1984).

On 10 March 2003, the Police were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and performed "Roxanne", "Message in a Bottle", and "Every Breath You Take" live, as a group (the last song was performed alongside Steven Tyler, Gwen Stefani, and John Mayer). In the autumn of 2003, Sting released his autobiography, Broken Music.

In 2004, Copeland and Summers joined Incubus onstage at KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas concert in Los Angeles performing "Roxanne" and "Message in a Bottle". In 2004, Henry Padovani released an album with the participation of Copeland and Sting on one track, reuniting the original Police line-up for the first time since 1977. Also in 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Police No. 70 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

In 2006, Stewart Copeland released a rockumentary about the band called Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out, based on Super-8 filming he did when the band was touring and recording in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In October 2006, Andy Summers released One Train Later, an autobiographical memoir detailing his early career and time with the band.

2007-2008: Reunion tour

In early 2007, reports surfaced the trio would reunite for a tour to mark the Police's 30th anniversary, more than 20 years since their split in 1986. On 22 January 2007, the punk wave magazine Side-Line broke the story the Police would reunite for the Grammys, and would perform "Roxanne". Side-Line also stated the Police were to embark on a massive world tour. Billboard magazine later confirmed the news, quoting Summers' 2006 statement as to how the band could have continued post-Synchronicity:

The more rational approach would have been, 'OK, Sting, go make a solo record, and let's get back together in two or three years.' I'm certain we could have done that. Of course we could have. We were definitely not in a creative dry space. We could have easily carried on, and we could probably still be there. That wasn't to be our fate. It went in another way. I regret we never paid it off with a last tour.

The band opened the 49th Annual Grammy Awards on 11 February 2007 in Los Angeles, announcing, "Ladies and gentlemen, we are The Police, and we're back!" before launching into "Roxanne".

A&M, the band's record company, promoted the 2007-08 reunion tour as the 30th anniversary of the band's formation and of the release of their first single for A&M, "Roxanne". The Police Reunion Tour began in late May 2007 with two shows in Vancouver. Stewart Copeland gave a scathing review of the show on his own website, which the press interpreted as a feud occurring two gigs into the tour. Copeland later apologised for besmirching "my buddy Sting," and chalked up the comments to "hyper self-criticism".

Tickets for the British leg of the tour sold out within 30 minutes, and the band played two nights at Twickenham Stadium on 8 and 9 September. On 29 and 30 September 2007, Henry Padovani joined the group on stage for the final encore of their two shows in Paris, playing the song "Next to You" as a four-piece band. In October 2007, the group played the largest gig of the reunion tour in Dublin in front of 82,000 fans. The group headlined the TW Classic festival in Werchter, Belgium on 7 June 2008. They also headlined the last night of the 2008 Isle of Wight Festival on 15 June, the Heineken Jammin' Festival in Venice on 23 June and the Sunday night at Hard Rock Calling (previously called Hyde Park Calling) in London on 29 June.

In February 2008, the band announced that, when the tour finished, they would break up again. "There will be no new album, no big new tour," said Sting. "Once we're done with our reunion tour, that's it for The Police." The final show of the tour was on 7 August 2008 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The band performed the opening song, "Message in a Bottle", with the brass band of the New York Metropolitan Police Corp. Later, they performed "Sunshine of Your Love" and "Purple Haze" as a tribute to the rock trios that preceded them: Cream and The Jimi Hendrix Experience. While announcing the show, the group also donated $1 million to New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's initiative to plant one million trees in the city by 2017.

The world's highest-earning musicians in 2008, the tour sold 3.7 million tickets and grossed $358 million, making it the third-highest-grossing tour of all time at its conclusion. On 11 November 2008, the Police released Certifiable: Live in Buenos Aires, a Blu-ray, DVD and CD set of the band's two performances in Buenos Aires, Argentina on the tour (1 and 2 December 2007). Those sets with two DVDs also included a documentary shot by Copeland's son Jordan entitled Better Than Therapy as well as some photographs of Buenos Aires taken by Andy Summers.

Musical style

The Police started as a punk rock band, but soon expanded their music vocabulary to incorporate reggae, pop and new wave elements to their sound. In his retrospective assessment, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic argues that the notion of the Police as a punk rock band was true only "in the loosest sense of the term". He states the band's "nervous, reggae-injected pop/rock was punky" and had a "punk spirit" but it "wasn't necessarily punk". A "power trio", the Police are also known as a new wave and post-punk band, with many songs falling in the reggae-fusion genre.

Legacy

In 2003, the Police were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in their first year of eligibility. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Police number 70 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, and in 2010, the band were ranked 40th on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Four of the band's five studio albums appeared on Rolling Stone's 2003 list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Ghost in the Machine (number 322), Reggatta de Blanc (number 369), Outlandos d'Amour (number 434), and Synchronicity (number 455). In 2008, Q magazine named Synchronicity among the top 10 British Albums of the 1980s.

The primary songwriter for the Police, Sting was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002. In Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 500 greatest songs of all time, "Every Breath You Take" ranked number 84 (the highest new wave song on the list), and "Roxanne" ranked number 388. "Message in a Bottle" ranked number 65 in the magazine's 2008 list of the 100 greatest guitar songs. Q magazine named "Every Breath You Take" among the top 10 British Songs of the 1980s, and in a UK-wide poll by ITV in 2015 it was voted The Nation's Favourite 80s Number One. In May 2019, "Every Breath You Take" was recognized by BMI as being the most performed song in their catalogue, overtaking "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" performed by the Righteous Brothers.

With a string of UK number one albums, the Police were among the most commercially successful British bands of the early 1980s, and with success overseas they are typically regarded as in both the vanguard of the Second British Invasion, and the new wave movement. With a history of playing to large audiences (such as Shea Stadium in 1983), the Police were a featured artist in the stadium rock episode of the 2007 BBC/VH1 series Seven Ages of Rock along with Queen, Led Zeppelin, U2 and Bruce Springsteen.

Despite the band's well-documented disagreements with one another, Summers confirmed in 2015 that Sting, Copeland and he are good friends. Summers said, "Despite the general press thing about 'God, they hate each other', it's actually not true, we're very supportive of one another." While remembering his time with The Police fondly and still retaining love for his former bandmates, Copeland recalled in 2022 that working with Sting musically "was like a Prada suit made out of barbed wire" and that, rather than get involved in the creative infighting, Summers would enjoy "throwing bombs" to egg on the younger men. "It was never an ego-clash," Copeland said.

Discography

• Outlandos d'Amour (1978)
• Reggatta de Blanc (1979)
• Zenyatta Mondatta (1980)
• Ghost in the Machine (1981)
• Synchronicity (1983)

Concert tours

• The Police Around the World Tour (1977-1980)
• Zenyatta Mondatta Tour (1980-1981)
• Ghost in the Machine Tour (1981-1982)
• Synchronicity Tour (1983-1984)
• The Police Reunion Tour (2007-2008)

Band members

• Sting - bass guitar, lead and backing vocals, double bass, studio synthesizer (1977-1986, 1992, 2003, 2007-2008)
• Andy Summers - guitars, backing vocals (1977-1986, 1992, 2003, 2007-2008)
• Stewart Copeland - drums, percussion, backing vocals (1977-1986, 1992, 2003, 2007-2008)
• Henry Padovani - guitars (1977, 2007)

Awards and nominations

Brit Awards

• 1982: Best British Group
• 1985: Outstanding Contribution to Music

Grammy Awards

Note: "Every Breath You Take" won Song of the Year in 1984, but in this category the award goes to the composer(s) of the song, not to the performing artist(s). The song was written and composed by Sting, the Police's vocalist.

Juno Awards

People's Choice Awards

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

• The Police were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 10 March 2003.

Other lists

• Ranked No.70 on Rolling Stone's Immortals, the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
• Ranked No.40 on VH1's List of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

See also

• List of best-selling music artists
• List of highest-grossing concert tours
• List of new wave artists
• List of reggae rock artists

References

Citations

Sources

External links

• Official website
• The Police at Curlie
• The Police at AllMusic

The primary members of the group were all the sons of Katherine and Joseph Jackson: Jackie Jackson, Tito Jackson, Jermaine Jackson, Marlon Jackson, Michael Jackson, and Randy Jackson. Joseph Jackson formed the band in 1964 and served as its manager, with Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and unrelated youths Reynaud Jones and Milton Hite comprising its original lineup. Within a year, Michael and Marlon joined the band, and Michael became lead singer as the group developed a following in the eastern and midwestern United States during the mid-1960s. Signed to the Motown label from 1969 to 1975, and to CBS Records (as "The Jacksons") from 1975 until their disbanding in 1990, the Jackson 5 were one of the most popular groups of the era and became the first recording act to have their first four major label singles (I Want You Back, ABC, The Love You Save, and I'll Be There) reach the top of the American charts. Several future singles, among them "Mama's Pearl", "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Dancing Machine", were Top 5 pop hits and number-one hits on the R&B singles chart. Most of the early hits were written and produced by a specialized songwriting team known as The Corporation™; later Jackson 5 hits were crafted chiefly by Hal Davis.

While not the first act considered a "boy band", The Jackson 5 is one of the earliest examples of the type as it is defined today: five adolescents specifically packaged and marketed by a record label for crossover pop success. Upon their departure from Motown for CBS in 1975, the Jacksons, were forced to change their name and trade Jermaine (who remained at Motown) for Randy. The group took control of their songwriting, production, and image, and their success continued into the 1980s with hits such as "Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" and "State of Shock", and a highly successful 1984 Victory tour. The Jacksons officially disbanded in 1990.

History

Early works

The Jacksons were a working-class family from Gary, Indiana. Katherine, being a Jehovah's Witness, raised the children as such, while their father, Joe, was not of that faith. Their father, a steel mill employee who often performed in an R&B band called "The Falcons" with his brother Luther, was a strict disciplinarian. Many of the Jackson children recall being severely beaten by Joe for misbehaving.

The children found an outlet in music, with elder brothers Jackie (born Sigmund Esco Jackson, 1951), Tito (born Toriano Jackson, 1953), and Jermaine (b. 1954) borrowing their father's guitar without his permission and playing along to the radio. Younger brothers Marlon (b. 1957) and Michael (b. 1958) were allowed to watch as long as they did not tell. Joseph eventually discovered that the older three boys were playing his guitar when one of the strings broke. Although he was furious at first, Joseph realized the boys had talent and began making plans to create a musical act for them.

In 1965, Jackie, Tito, and Jermaine began performing around the Gary area with two neighborhood children, Milford Hite (on drums) and Reynaud Jones (on keyboards), in a group called The Jackson Brothers. Joe Jackson served as the manager, at first only part-time, and then eventually quitting his job at the steel mill. Jermaine sang lead and played bass, and Tito played guitar.

In 1966, younger brothers Marlon and Michael, joined the group as its tambourine and bongo players. Already showing talent as a singer and dancer, Michael replaced Jermaine as lead vocalist by mid-1967. Shirley Cartman, Tito's junior high orchestra teacher, noticed the group's talents and served as an early mentor to the group, by then calling itself The Jackson Five.

During this period, the boys toured Indiana extensively, and after winning a major local talent show in 1966 with a rendition of The Temptations' "My Girl", led by Michael, they began playing professional gigs in Chicago, Illinois and across the mid-eastern U.S. Many of these gigs were in a string of black clubs and venues collectively known as the "chitlin' circuit", and the young kids sometimes had to open for strip teasers and other adult acts in order to earn money.

Shirley Cartman got the Jackson Five a record deal with Gordon Keith's local Steeltown label, and the group began making their first recordings in 1967. Their first single, "Big Boy", became a regional hit. During this period, Johnny Jackson (no relation) on drums and Ronnie Rancifer on keys replaced Milford Hite and Reynaud Jones.

The Jackson Five had a number of admirers in their early days, including Sam & Dave, who helped the group secure a spot in the famous Amateur Night competition at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. The group won the August 13, 1967 competition during the Amateur Night showdown at the Apollo, impressing Motown Records artist Gladys Knight of The Pips. Knight recommended the group to Motown chief Berry Gordy, but Gordy, who already had teenager Stevie Wonder on his roster, was hesitant to take on another child act because of the child labor laws and other problems involved.

The Jackson Five's sound was influenced by many of the biggest stars of the 1960s, especially including family funk bands Sly & the Family Stone and The Isley Brothers, soul pioneer Marvin Gaye, doo-wop boy band Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, and soul shouters like Wilson Pickett, Jackie Wilson, Stevie Wonder and James Brown . At the time of their early success, soul and funk stars, especially coming from Motown Records, were among the most popular musicians; Motown had launched the careers of dozens of the decade's biggest stars, most notably Smokey Robinson & the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, and Diana Ross & the Supremes.

Influences

From these sources, The Jackson Five developed many of their vocal arrangement styles and dance movements. The group's multi-lead vocal style was inspired by that of The Family Stone, while young Michael adapted Jackie Wilson and James Brown's impassioned singing and dancing styles into his own.

Joining Motown

By 1968, the Jackson 5 were a headlining act for the All Star Floor Show at Chicago's The Guys' and Gals' Cocktail Lounge and Restaurant. From July 12 - 27, 1968, the Jackson 5 opened for Motown group Bobby Taylor & the Vancouvers at Chicago's Regal Theater. Taylor was also very impressed with the boys, and he decided to make the commitment to bring them to Detroit and Motown. Joseph and the Jackson Five stayed on the floor of Bobby Taylor's Detroit apartment the night of July 22, while Taylor and Motown executive Suzanne de Passe arranged for the Jackson Five to audition for the label.

On July 23, the Jackson Five had their Motown audition, for which they performed James Brown’s then current hit "I Got the Feelin’". Berry Gordy was not in attendance, but the audition was videotaped and sent to him in Los Angeles. Gordy's initial reluctance to sign the group disappeared when he finally saw the boys perform. Gordy decided to sign the Jackson Five to Motown, and hosted a party at his Detroit mansion on November 25, 1968 to introduce them to the Motown staff and stars.

Motown began negotiations to buy out the Jackson Five's Steeltown contract, completing the deal in March 1969. By the summer, Bobby Taylor began producing the group's first recordings at Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. recording studio in Detroit. The early Taylor-produced Jackson Five records were all covers of both contemporary hits and Motown-standards, including Sly & the Family Stone's "Stand!" and their famous rendition of The Miracles' "Who's Lovin' You", written by Smokey Robinson.

In mid-August 1969, Gordy moved the Jackson Five and Joseph to California, and he and Suzanne de Passe began the process of grooming them as the label's next big act, while the rest of the family remained in Gary. While looking for a house in California, Joseph, Jermaine, Tito, and Jackie lived with Berry Gordy, while Michael and Marlon lived with Motown star Diana Ross.

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Take That's dance-pop tunes and soulful ballads dominated the British charts in the first half of the 1990s. They released two of the best selling albums of the decade with Everything Changes (1993) and Take That: Greatest Hits (1996). According to the AMG Music Guides, "at this time were giant superstars in Europe with the main question about them not being about whether they could get a hit single, but how many and which would make it to number one."

The band reformed with the exception of Robbie Williams in 2006 and released their first new single in 10 years: "Patience." Following the success of "Patience," they released the album Beautiful World which topped sales in 2006 and sold more than the current release by Robbie!

During 2007, Take That also wrote a song for the motion picture Stardust titled "Rule the World" which reached #2 in the UK charts and went on to be the 5th biggest selling single of 2007. Meanwhile the album Beautiful World was the fourth biggest selling album of 2007.

The 2008 Brit Awards provided Take That with a Brit for "Best Live Act" for their "Beautiful World" European tour and "Best British Single of The Year" For "Shine."

In late 2008, the group released their second album since their reunion entitled The Circus which made it to the Christmas number one spot in 2008. In July 2010, it was confirmed that Robbie Williams had rejoined the band, and that they would be releasing new material together in late 2010. The first album to include Robbie Williams was released on November 15, 2010 with the title Progress.

This album gained very good to excellent reviews in publications as diverse as The Telegraph and Q (which gave it 8/10). Q said, "Progress is a triumph; musically, conceptually, personally."

It was announced in September 2014 that Jason Orange had left the band as he did not "wish to commit to recording and promoting a new album."

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Born Gordon Matthew Sumner, he is the eldest of four children. Sumner was raised in the Roman Catholic tradition, due to the influence of his paternal grandmother, who was from an Irish family. He attended St Cuthbert's Grammar School in Newcastle upon Tyne, and then the University of Warwick, but did not graduate. During this time, he often sneaked into nightclubs like the Club-a-Go-Go. Here he saw acts like Jack Bruce and Jimi Hendrix, who would later influence his music. After jobs as a bus conductor, a construction labourer, and a tax officer, he attended Northern Counties Teachers' Training College, which later became part of Northumbria University, from 1971 to 1974. He then worked as a teacher at St Paul's First School in Cramlington for two years.

From an early age, Sumner knew that he wanted to be a musician. His first music gigs were wherever he could get a job, performing evenings, weekends, and during vacations from college and teaching. He played with local jazz bands such as the Phoenix Jazzmen, the Newcastle Big Band, and Last Exit.

He gained his nickname while with the Phoenix Jazzmen. He once performed wearing a black and yellow jersey with hooped stripes that bandleader Gordon Solomon had noted made him look like a bumblebee; thus Sumner became "Sting".

In January 1977, Sting moved from Newcastle to London, and soon thereafter he joined Stewart Copeland and Henry Padovani (who was very soon replaced by Andy Summers) to form the new wave band The Police. The group had several chart-topping albums and won six Grammy Awards in the early 1980s.

Although they jumped on the punk bandwagon early in their career, The Police soon abandoned that sound in favor of reggae-tinged rock and minimalist pop. Their last album, Synchronicity, which included their most successful song, " Every Breath You Take", was released in 1983.

In September 1981 Sting made his first live solo appearance, performing on all four nights of the fourth Amnesty International benefit The Secret Policeman's Other Ball at the invitation of producer Martin Lewis. He also led an all-star band (dubbed The Secret Police) on his own arrangement of Bob Dylan's, "I Shall Be Released". The band and chorus included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Phil Collins, Bob Geldof, and Midge Ure, all of whom (except Beck) later worked together on Live Aid.

His performances were featured prominently in the album and film of the show and drew Sting major critical attention. Sting's participation in The Secret Policeman's Other Ball was the beginning of his growing involvement in raising money and consciousness for political and social causes.

In 1982 he released a solo single, "Spread a Little Happiness" from the Dennis Potter television play Brimstone and Treacle. The song was a re-interpretation of a song from the 1920s musical Mr Cinders by Vivian Ellis, and was a surprise top-twenty hit in the U.K.

Sting's first solo album, 1985's The Dream of the Blue Turtles, featured a cast of accomplished jazz musicians, including Kenny Kirkland, Darryl Jones, Omar Hakim, and Branford Marsalis. It included the hit single "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free". The album also contained the hits "Fortress around Your Heart", "Russians", and "Love Is the Seventh Wave". Within a year, it reached triple platinum. This album gained Sting a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year. The film and video Bring On the Night documented the formation of the band and its first concert in France.

Also in 1985, he sang the introduction and chorus to "Money for Nothing", a song by Dire Straits. He later performed this song with Dire Straits at the Live Aid Concert at Wembley Stadium. Sting also provided a short guest vocal performance on the Miles Davis album You're Under Arrest. He also sang backing vocals on Arcadia's single "The Promise", and contributed a version of "Mack the Knife" to the Hal Willner-produced tribute album Lost in the Stars: the Music of Kurt Weill.

Sting released ...Nothing Like the Sun in 1987, including the hit songs "We'll Be Together", "Fragile", "Englishman in New York", and "Be Still My Beating Heart", dedicated to his recently-deceased mother. It eventually went double platinum. The song "The Secret Marriage" from this album was adapted from a melody by German composer Hans Eisler, and "Englishman in New York" was about the eccentric writer Quentin Crisp. The album's title is taken from William Shakespeare's Sonnet number 130.

In February 1988 he released ...Nada como el sol, a selection of five songs from Nothing Like the Sun which he sang in Spanish and Portuguese. Sting was also involved in two other recordings in the late 1980s, the first in 1987 with noted jazz arranger Gil Evans who placed Sting in a big band setting for a live album of Sting's songs (the CD was not released in the U.S.), and the second on Frank Zappa's 1988 Broadway the Hard Way, on which Sting performs an unusual arrangement of "Murder by Numbers", set to the tune "Stolen Moments" by jazz composer Oliver Nelson, and "dedicated" to fundamentalist evangelist Jimmy Swaggart.

Sting's 1991 album The Soul Cages was dedicated to his recently-deceased father and included the top-ten song "All This Time" and the Grammy-winning "Soul Cages". The album eventually went platinum. The following year he married Trudie Styler and was awarded an honorary doctorate in music by Northumbria University. In 1993, he released the album Ten Summoner's Tales, which went triple platinum in just over a year. The title is wordplay on his surname, Sumner, and Geoffrey Chaucer's classic The Canterbury Tales. Concurrent video albums were released to support Soul Cages (a live concert) and Ten Summoner's Tales (recorded during the recording sessions for the album).

In May 1993, Sting released a cover of his song from The Police's album Ghost in the Machine, "Demolition Man" for the film Demolition Man.

In 1994, Sting, Bryan Adams and Rod Stewart performed the chart-topping song "All for Love" from the film The Three Musketeers. The song stayed at the top of the U.S. charts for five weeks and went platinum; it is to date Sting's only song from his post-Police career to top the U.S. charts. In February, he won two more Grammy Awards and was nominated for three more. The Berklee College of Music gave him his second honorary doctorate of music degree in May. In November, he released a greatest hits compilation called Fields of Gold: the Best of Sting 1984-1994, which was eventually certified double platinum.

In 1996 he released Mercury Falling. He reached the top forty with two singles in the same year: "You Still Touch Me" and "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying". During this period, Sting was also recording music for the Disney film Kingdom of the Sun, which went on to be reworked into The Emperor's New Groove. The film went through drastic overhauls and plot changes, and Sting's songs were not used in the final film. The story was put into a final product: The Sweatbox, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Disney currently holds the rights to the film and will not grant its release. That same year Sting also released a little-known CD-ROM called All This Time, which included music, commentary, and custom computer features describing Sting and his music from his perspective.

The Emperor's New Groove soundtrack was released, however, with complete songs from the previous version of the film. The final single used to promote the film was "My Funny Friend and Me".

Sting's1999 album Brand New Day included the top-forty hit "Brand New Day" and the top-ten hit "Desert Rose". The album went triple platinum by January 2001. In 2000, he won Grammy Awards for the album and for the song of the same name. At the awards ceremony, he performed "Desert Rose" with Cheb Mami. For his performance, the Arab-American Institute Foundation gave him the Kahlil Gibran Spirit of Humanity Award. However, Sting was criticised for appearing in a Jaguar advertisement using "Desert Rose" as its backing track, particularly as he was a notable environmentalist.

In February 2001, he won another Grammy. His song "After the Rain Has Fallen" made it into the top forty. His next project was to record a live album at his Tuscan villa, which was released as a CD and DVD, as well as being simulcast in its entirety on the internet. The resultant album and DVD ...All This Time was released in November and featured re-workings of Sting favourites such as "Roxanne" and "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free". It was recorded on 11th September 2001 and is dedicated "to all those who lost their lives on that day".

In 2002 Sting won a Golden Globe Award and in June, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In the summer, Sting was awarded the honour of Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). In 2003 he released Sacred Love, a studio album collaboration with hip-hop artist Mary J. Blige and sitar player Anoushka Shankar. He and Blige won a Grammy for their duet "Whenever I Say Your Name".

His autobiography Broken Music was published in October. Sting embarked on a Sacred Love tour in 2004 with performances by Annie Lennox. Sting went on the Broken Music tour, touring smaller venues, with a four piece band kicking off in Los Angeles on 28 March 2005 and ending this "College Tour" on 14 May 2005. Continuing with his involvement in Live Aid, he appeared at Live 8 in July 2005.

In October 2006, Sting released Songs from the Labyrinth featuring the music of John Dowland (an Elizabethan-era composer) and accompaniment from Bosnian lute player Edin Karamazov. As a part of the promotion of this album, he appeared on the fifth episode of Studio 60, during which he performed a segment of Dowland's "Come Again" as well as his own "Fields of Gold" in an arrangement for voice and two archlutes.

In October 2009 Sting released If On a Winter's Night, a celebration of winter and rebirth. The album begins with traditional music of the British Isles, going on to carols, lullabies spanning centuries such as "The Snow It Melts the Soonest" (traditional Newcastle ballad), "Soul Cake" (traditional English "begging" song), "Gabriel's Message" (fourteenth-century carol), as well as two of Sting's own compositions: "Lullaby for an Anxious Child" and "The Hounds of Winter". Also featured on the album is "Hurdy Gurdy Man", a musical reworking and English translation (by Sting) of "Der Leiermann" from Franz Schubert's Winterreise. Guitarist Dominic Miller joins him as well as an ensemble of harpists, pipers, and fiddlers creating an acoustic meditation on winter.

BMI Award - 2016 On October 10, 2016, Sting was awarded the Icon Award at the BMI Awards in London, UK. In announcing the award, BMI CEO Mike O’Neill hailed Sting as “truly a creative force, a brilliant songwriter, an artist”.

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Initially formed in 1976 in London, England, they didn't reach a stable line-up or decide on the Spandau name until 1978. Their odd title allegedly came from a piece of bathroom graffiti observed during the members early days. Inspired by a mixture of avant-garde synth pop and slick funk. as typified by their early track "Chant No 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)", also known by other titles such as "Chant # 1", the band commercially broke through with an artistic public image as remarked upon as their music. Said track reached the #2 spot in the U.K. and was notable for inclusion of the horn section from the group Beggar & Co, which proved a fruitful collaboration on record.

Spandau Ballet's first two albums, 1981's 'Journeys to Glory' and 1982's 'Diamond', found them also mining their art rock and glam rock roots as their fan-base expanded, the group looking to the works of David Bowie and Roxy Music for inspiration. Both albums charted in the U.K. top 20 and were later certified gold by the RIAA. Additional popular songs from the band in this era include "To Cut a Long Story Short" and "Freeze" (also known as "The Freeze". The group also notably picked up a semi-friendly rivalry with new wave contemporaries Duran Duran.

After four hits in the U.K. followed by a couple of less successful releases, however, Spandau Ballet's chart career appeared to be on the wane. Yet Instinction, re-ignited their fortunes and became the first of eleven consecutive singles to reach the Top 20

Immensely popular in the UK, the New Romantic group eventually mellowed into a mainstream pop act. As with Duran Duran they 'broke America', albeit briefly - the title track of their 3rd album True peaked in the Top 5 of the Singles charts. The song gained a new life in the 1990's and beyond by being sampled in the songs Set Adrift on Memory Bliss by PM Dawn and N Dey Say by Nelly.

After a split in 1990 and a court case almost ten years later involving Hadley, Keeble & Norman suing Gary Kemp over royalties, they announced in March 2009 a reformation.

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Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer-songwriter. He rose to fame in October 2012 when he was featured on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart. His subsequent feature—on Naughty Boy's "La La La"—earned him his first number one single in May 2013. In December 2013, he was nominated for the 2014 Brit Critics' Choice Award and the BBC's Sound of 2014 poll,^[1][2] both of which he won.^[3][4]

He released his debut studio album, In the Lonely Hour, in May 2014 on Capitol Records UK.^[5] The lead single, "Lay Me Down", was released prior to "La La La". The second single, "Money on My Mind", became his second number one single in the UK.^[6] The album's third single, "Stay with Me", was an international success, reaching number one in the UK and number two on the US Billboard Hot 100, while the fourth single "I'm Not the Only One" reached the top five in both countries. The fifth single, "Like I Can", reached number nine in the United Kingdom. He made his United States debut on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, followed by a performance on Saturday Night Livein March 2014.

In December 2014, Smith was nominated for six Grammy Awards, and at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2015 he won four: Best New Artist, "Stay with Me" for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, and In the Lonely Hour for Best Pop Vocal Album. At the 2015 Brit Awards, he won the awards for British Breakthrough Act and Global Success. At the 2015 Billboard Music Awards, Smith received three Billboard Awards: Top Male Artist, Top New Artist, and Top Radio Songs Artist.^[7] His musical achievements have also led him to be mentioned twice in the Guinness World Records.^[8]

For his and Jimmy Napes' song "Writing's on the Wall", the theme for the James Bond film Spectre (2015), Smith won the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Original Song. His second studio album, The Thrill of It All, was released in November 2017, and debuted atop the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200. The lead single, "Too Good at Goodbyes", reached number one in the UK and Australia and number four in the US.

In 2001, the band regrouped, with guitarist James Valentine added to the line-up, and pursued a new direction under the name: Maroon 5. At this point, Jesse Carmichael switched to playing the keyboards and this has become his main instrument in the band (although he also plays rhythm guitar to this day). After these changes, Maroon 5 signed with Octone Records and released their debut album, "Songs About Jane", in June 2002. The album's lead single "Harder to Breathe", received heavy airplay, which helped the album to debut at number six on the Billboard 200 chart. The band won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2005. For the next few years, the band toured extensively worldwide in support of Songs About Jane and produced two live recordings: 2004's "1.22.03.Acoustic" and 2005's "Live Friday the 13th". In 2006, Ryan Dusick officially left the band after suffering from serious wrist and shoulder injuries and was replaced by Matt Flynn. The band recorded their second album, "It Won't Be Soon Before Long" and released it in May 2007. The album reached number one on the US Billboard 200 chart and the lead single, "Makes Me Wonder", became the band's first number-one song on the Billboard Hot 100.

On September 21, 2010, the band released their third studio album entitled "Hands All Over". It was re-released in 2011 to include the single "Moves like Jagger" (featuring Christina Aguilera). While the original version of the album received mixed reviews, "Moves like Jagger" reached the number one position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The band released their next album, "Overexposed", on June 26, 2012. All four singles of the album were really successful on the charts - for example, the second single from Overexposed, "One More Night" (released on June 19, 2012), reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2014, the band signed with Interscope Records and released their fifth studio album, "V", with the very-first line-up of six official band members, as keyboardist and backing vocalist PJ Morton became an official member in 2012. The album debuted at top of the weekly Billboard 200 chart. Since its debut in 2002, the band has sold more than 15 million albums in the United States and over 100 million singles and 27 million albums worldwide.

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Carey left Columbia in 2000 and signed a five-album deal worth US $ 100 million with Virgin Records, a subsidiary of EMI Music. Before the release of the film Glitter (2001), in which she played the protagonist Billie Frank, she suffered an "emotional and physical collapse" and was hospitalized due to severe exhaustion. With poor critical and commercial reception of the film and its homonymous soundtrack (2001), Carey had his contract with Virgin possibly canceled and the record company paid him only US $ 49 million, the period began the decline of his popularity . The following year, she was hired by Island Records and its popularity has been taken up with the release of his tenth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi (2005). The second single from it, "We Belong Together" was the most famous song in the United States in the 2000s, receiving the award for "Song of the Decade" by Billboard. In 2009, she made another film role, participating in the film Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire; Carey was also awarded the prize for "Breakthrough Performance Award" in ceremonies Palm Springs International Film Festival, Black Reel Awards and NAACP Image Awards 2010.

Throughout his career, Carey sold over 200 million records worldwide, making it one of record sales record holders. In 1998, she was honored as the artist with the most albums sold in the 1990s in the United States during the World Music Awards. In 2000, Carey was declared the female artist who sold more albums in America this millennium. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), she was positioned in third place among the female artists with best-selling in the United States with sales estimated at 64 million albums, behind only Barbra Streisand and Madonna. With the release of "Touch My Body" (2008), Carey got his 18th number one in the United States, surpassing the record previously held by Elvis Presley among solo artists with higher numbers one in the country. In 2012, Carey was second in the list of the top 100 women in music, published by VH1. In addition to its commercial awards, Carey has earned 5 Grammy Awards, 20 World Music Awards, 23 American Music Awards and 32 Billboard Music Awards. Known as the "wild supreme" by Guinness World Records, she is also known for her vocal reaches five octaves, her style melisma and the recurrent use of the register whistle.

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Keane are known for using a piano as their lead instrument instead of guitars, significantly differentiating them from most rock bands. The inclusion of a distorted piano effect since 2006 and various synthesizers are now a common feature in their music that nowadays combines the pure piano rock sound used during their first album and the alternative rock sound which developed during 2005. Acoustic and power ballads are also a highlight in the group's music and have evolved into many fan favourite songs such as "On a Day Like Today" and "We Might As Well Be Strangers".

Keane's first two studio albums, Hopes and Fears and Under the Iron Sea, achieved great success in the United Kingdom upon release and very high sales worldwide: their multi-award-winning debut was the best-selling British album of 2004 and their follow-up sold 222,297 copies during its first week on sale in June 2006.

Their third album, Perfect Symmetry was released on 13th October 2008. First single 'Spiralling' was available for free download, and half a million copies were downloaded worldwide. The album has clear 80s influences, and is compared in Q magazine to both David Bowie's 'Scary Monsters' and The Dandy Warhols' 'Welcome To The Monkey House'. The band have cited Talking Heads as another key influence. This was their first album to include guitar, successfully breaking away from their original set-up.

The Silenced By The Night Songfacts reports that their fourth album, Strangeland will be released from 4 May 2012 through Island Records. First single 'Silenced By The Night' was originally only to be released as a commercial single in the United States, but was released worldwide apart from the United Kingdom on March 13, 2012. The single was finally dropped in Keane's home country April 15, 2012.

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Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the skiffle craze as a teenager. He formed his first band, the Quarrymen, in 1957 which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. When the group disbanded in 1970, Lennon embarked on a sporadic solo career that produced albums including John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and songs such as "Give Peace a Chance", "Working Class Hero", and "Imagine". After he married Yoko Ono in 1969, he added "Ono" as one of his middle names. Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to raise his infant son Sean, but re-emerged with Ono in 1980 with the new album Double Fantasy. He was shot and killed in front of his Manhattan apartment three weeks after its release.

Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, writing, drawings, on film and in interviews. Controversial through his political and peace activism, he moved from London to Manhattan in 1971, where his criticism of the Vietnam War resulted in a lengthy attempt by the Nixon administration to deport him. Some of his songs were adopted as anthems by the anti-war movement and the larger counterculture.

By 2012 (thirty-two years after his death), Lennon's solo album sales in the United States had exceeded 14 million units. He is responsible for 25 number-one singles on the US Hot 100 chart as a writer, co-writer, or performer. In 2002, Lennon was voted eighth in a BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons and in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer of all time. In 1987, he was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Lennon was twice inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame—first in 1988 as a member of the Beatles and again in 1994 as a solo artist.

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1. James Morrison (born James Morrison Catchpole on August 13, 1984) is a singer-songwriter from Rugby, Warwickshire, England. He says that his musical influences include Al Green, Otis Redding, Cat Stevens and The Kinks.

At 13 Morrison began to learn guitar when his uncle showed him how to play a blues riff. He started busking when he lived at Porth near Newquay, in Cornwall. After years of playing other musicians' songs, he eventually started to write his own.

Polydor Productions took charge and signed him. He became the supporting artist for Corinne Bailey Rae on her tour supporting her debut album.

In 2006 he debuted with his single you give me something which became a hit single around Europe and Japan. It reached the #2 spot in Holland and the #5 spot in the UK. His debut album Undiscovered went straight to #1 in the UK and has sold more than 2,000,000 copies worldwide.

The second single released from the album was "Wonderful World," which became a top 10 hit in the UK reaching the #8 spot.

James' second album "Songs For You, Truths For Me" was released in September of 2008. The single released days before the album was "You Make It Real". The big hit from the album though was the second single "Broken Strings" featuring Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado. It reached the number 1 spot on at least 4 charts of various countries (including Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and on the European Hot 100 also). It peaked at number 2 in the UK, Austria and Ireland. It was a top 40 hit on the US Billboard Adult Pop Songs chart also peaking at 34.

Morrison's first single from his third album, "The Awakening", was "I Won't Let You Go". Singles that followed were "Up" feat. Jessie J, "Slave To The Music" and "One Life". The album was released on September 23, 2011, reached number 1 in the UK and Switzerland and has been certified platinum in the UK as well.

2. James Morrison (born 11 November 1962 in Boorowa, New South Wales) is an Australian jazz musician who plays numerous instruments, but is best known for his trumpet playing. He is a multi-instrumentalist, having performed on the clarinet, soprano saxophone, alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, flugelhorn, bass flugelhorn, trombone, euphonium, tuba and piano. He is also a composer, writing jazz charts for ensembles of various sizes and proficiency levels. He performed the opening fanfare at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games. In 2009, he joined Steve Pizzati and Warren Brown as a presenter on Top Gear Australia.

Morrison has performed with Dizzy Gillespie (the first Australian to do so), with Don Burrows, as a member of the Don Burrows Band, and with Ray Charles and B. B. King for a 1990 world tour. He has also worked with Ray Brown, Wynton Marsalis, Frank Sinatra, Cab Calloway, Jon Faddis, Woody Shaw, Whitney Houston, Arturo Sandoval, Phil Stack, George Benson, Mark Nightingale, and Red Rodney.

In 2005, he was the guest soloist at the 150th anniversary concert of the Black Dyke Band and in 2007, he again appeared as guest soloist at concerts with the band in Manchester and London. In 2003 he founded the band On The Edge together with the German keyboarder and composer Simon Stockhausen (CD released on Morrison Records).

Morrison has also had a long association with Composer and pianist Lalo Schifrin (of Mission Impossible fame) and has recorded a number of CDs on Schifrin's "Jazz Meets The Symphony" series. These include recordings with the London Symphony and the Czech National Symphony.

3. James Morrison (3 May 1893 - 1947), known as "The Professor", was a notable South Sligo-style Irish fiddler.

Morrison was born in 1893 near Riverstown, County Sligo at the townland of Drumfin. Morrison grew up in a community steeped in traditional Irish culture especially music and at the age of 17 he was employed by the Gaelic League to tutor the Connacht style of step dancing at the Gaelic League school in County Mayo.

In 1915, at the age of 21, he emigrated to America and settled in New York. In 1918, Morrison won the fiddle competition at the New York Feis. Morrison become associated with other leading Irish musicians such as Michael Coleman, Paddy Killoran who were also from County Sligo.

Morrison was one of the leading Irish music teachers in New York in the 1930s and '40s. In addition to the fiddle, he could play the flute and button accordion (and wrote a tutor on the latter) and taught hundreds of young Irish-American students to play traditional music on various instruments.

4. See The Doors.

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Blunt was educated at Elstree School, Woolhampton, then Harrow School (where he received his nickname 'Blunty'), and finally the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Before the release of his album, Blunt was a commissioned officer in the British Army, rose to the rank of Captain and served as a NATO peacekeeper in Kosovo. He was also on duty for the funeral of the Queen Mother on 9th April, 2002.

He is currently signed to Linda Perry's American label Custard, and became the first British artist to top the American singles chart in nearly a decade when his first single from Back to Bedlam, "You're Beautiful", reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2006. The last British artist to do so had been Elton John in 1997 with the song Candle in the Wind.

His second album, All The Lost Souls, was released on 17th September 2007.

His third album, Some Kind of Trouble, was released on 8th November 2010.

Year active 2004- present

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Barlow is one of Britain's most successful songwriters, having written fourteen Number 1 singles and twenty four top 10 hits. He has had three Number 1 singles, six top 10 singles and two Number 1 albums as a solo artist, and has had seventeen top 5 hits, twelve Number 1 singles and seven Number 1 albums with Take That. He is also a six-time recipient of the Ivor Novello Award and has sold over 50 million records worldwide. He was appointed an OBE in 2012 for services to music and charity.

Barlow's solo career was predicted to be very successful, being described as 'the next George Michael'. His first two solo singles "Forever Love" (released July 1996) and "Love Won't Wait" (composed by Madonna and Shep Pettibone) both leapt to the number one spot in his home country. "Forever Love" was also used as the soundtrack to the film The Leading Man. His debut album "Open Road" reached number 1 in the UK Albums Chart and went on to sell 2 million copies worldwide. Barlow's first single to be released in the United States as a solo artist was "So Help Me Girl", which reached number 44 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number 1 on the US Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. He then achieved another top ten hit in the UK with "Open Road" peaking at number 7 and number 8 in the Netherlands with "Are You Ready Now".

After the success of his first solo album he released his second LP "Twelve Months, Eleven Days" in 1999. Barlow released "Stronger" as the lead single preceding the album. However, due to an expected backlash against Barlow, it received minimal support and airplay and only peaked at number 16. The second single "For All That You Want" again was subjected to minimal radio play and peaked at number 24, however it peaked just outside the top 5 in Finland. "Twelve Months, Eleven Days" was released soon after the first single to little promotion and peaked at a disappointing number 35, which led to Sony recalling Barlow's 'greatest' song according to critics, the scheduled third single from his second album "Lie to Me". This resulted in both Barlow and BMG parting company. To date Barlow has sold 5 million records worldwide as a solo artist.

On September 2013, Barlow announced via his Twitter account that he would be releasing his first full-length solo album in 14 years, on 25 November 2013. Barlow encouraged his followers and fans to tweet #GBSOLO to reveal the album artwork and title, with their profile pictures being used to create a collage of the album cover. On 4 October 2013, Barlow revealed his new album would be called "Since I Saw You Last", and would be preceded by his first single from the LP, titled "Let Me Go", released worldwide on 17 November 2013. He also announced that he would be touring the album in April 2014, playing some of the biggest arenas in the UK.

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The band enjoyed more modest success in the intervening period between 1971 and 1974, with a line-up that included Bob Welch, and also during the 90s, which saw more personnel changes before the return of Nicks and Buckingham in 1997. More recently, the departure of Christine McVie from Fleetwood Mac in 1998 shifted around the group's plans for many years. McVie returned to the fold in 2014 and a coming tour featuring the reunited line-up is in the works.

The only member present in the band from the very beginning is its namesake drummer Mick Fleetwood. Bassist John McVie, despite his giving part of his name to the band, did not play on their first single nor at their first concerts. Keyboardist Christine McVie has, to date, appeared on all but two albums, either as a member or as a session musician. She also supplied the artwork for the album 'Kiln House'.

The band was started in London in 1967 by guitarist Peter Green, who recruited the rhythm section of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers: drummer Mick Fleetwood and bass guitarist John McVie. Green himself had replaced a departing member, Eric Clapton, as the lead guitarist of the "Bluesbreakers;" Green and McVie had appeared on John Mayall's 1967 A Hard Road album. The band employed another bassist, Bob Brunning, until John McVie was persuaded to join the band. (The band's first album Fleetwood Mac contains one song with Brunning on bass.) Slide-guitarist and Elmore James devotee, Jeremy Spencer, rounded out the lineup.

After its second album, Mr. Wonderful, a third guitarist, 18-year-old Danny Kirwan, was added to the lineup. At this point the band began shifting into a more melodic, introspective, and experimental/progressive mode. Most performances were built around the twin leads of Green and Kirwan, and Kirwan's songwriting was featured in nearly equal proportion to Green's. After releasing two successful singles, the instrumental "Albatross" (which remains the band's only #1 hit in the UK), and the ballad "Man of the World" , it produced what is often considered the best album of the band's Peter Green era, Then Play On. Spencer was, for the most part, absent from these recording sessions. The epic 2-part "Oh Well" single followed , and was included in later pressings of the U.S. LP album (and in all CDs). The band was then rocked by Peter Green's decision to leave. Debate rages on the reasons for this, but it is agreed that Green wished to play a more experimental and improvisational style. Drugs, particularly LSD, also played a large part, as Green recorded sporadically before falling into a twenty-year period of mental illness. After a short gap, Christine McVie (a.k.a. under her maiden name Christine Perfect) joined the band on keyboards, and the band moved from the blues to a more melodic pop style.

The early 1970s of Fleetwood Mac were turbulent for the band, which gained and lost members at a troubling rate. Jeremy Spencer disappeared during an American tour, and was found to have joined the controversial Children of God cult. American guitarist Bob Welch joined up, at the suggestion of good friend Judy Wong, lending a jazz-rock flavor to Kirwan's more melodic songs. Kirwan's and Welch's tenures overlapped by two albums, but eventually, Kirwan's own erratic behavior on tour led to his dismissal in late 1972. Welch's contributions included "Future Games" (from 1971's Future Games), "Sentimental Lady" (from 1972's Bare Trees), and "Hypnotized" (from 1973's Mystery To Me).

Bob Weston (guitar) and Savoy Brown's Dave Walker (vocals) were also briefly hired during this phase of the band. Walker was fired after just one album, but the firing of Weston, for an alleged affair with Mick Fleetwood's wife, during a late 1973 tour led to that tour's abrupt cancellation. This led its manager, Clifford Davis, to send another dummy band out on the road billed as "Fleetwood Mac," but featuring no original members of the band, resulting in a year-long legal battle. The fake Fleetwood Mac scored one hit a couple of years later ("Why Did You Do It?") under their new name Stretch

In late 1974, Welch indicated that he intended to leave the band, and Fleetwood and John McVie needed to fill the possible vacancy. While Fleetwood was scouting Van Nuys, California's Sound City Studios, house engineer Keith Olsen played a track titled "Frozen Love," which he had mixed there for an obscure American duo, Buckingham Nicks. Fleetwood liked what he heard, and he was introduced to the guitarist, Lindsey Buckingham, who just happened to be in the building. When Welch resigned from the band, Fleetwood asked Buckingham to join. Buckingham agreed, on the condition that his musical partner and girlfriend, Stevie Nicks, also become part of the band.

In 1975, under new management by Gabriele Arras, the new lineup released the eponymous Fleetwood Mac (otherwise known as The White Album). This proved to be a breakthrough for the band and it became a huge hit. The band was catapulted into stardom. Among the hit singles from this album were Christine McVie's "Over My Head" and "Say You Love Me," and Stevie Nicks's "Rhiannon (Will You Ever Win)."

But in 1976, with the success of the band also came the end of John and Christine McVie's marriage, as well as Buckingham's and Nicks's longtime romantic relationship. Pressure was put on Fleetwood Mac to release a successful follow-on album, which, when combined with its new-found wealth, led to creative and personal tensions, fuelled by large amounts of drug and alcohol consumption, especially cocaine.

The album the band members created was Rumours in 1977, in which the band lays bare the emotional turmoil experienced at that time. It became the best- selling album of the year, and it sold over 19 million copies worldwide by 1998. The RIAA certified Rumours as a diamond album.

This lineup of the band continued to record for over a decade. Their 1979 album Tusk was a double album, more experimental in tone, still spawning three hit singles but selling nowhere near the quantity of Rumours. After solo albums by Nicks and Buckingham, 1982's Mirage was a return to more commercial pop, but still didn't reproduce the success of Rumours. The band went on hiatus, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham continuing solo careers and Christine McVie issuing a solo album as well.

In 1987, the band reconvened for Tango In The Night, some of which was originally destined for another Buckingham solo disc. The disc sold well and had several hit singles, but Buckingham refused to tour with the band and they parted ways acrimoniously. Buckingham was replaced with Rick Vito and Billy Burnette for the Tango In The Night tour, and this new lineup recorded the 1990 album Behind The Mask, which did not enjoy much commercial success. In 1991, Nicks and Vito announced they were leaving the band. Bekka Bramlett joined, and this lineup eventually recorded the unsuccessful album Time in 1995.

In 1997, the "classic" Rumours line-up reunited for an MTV reunion special called The Dance. The live album sold over 5 million copies in the United States and spawned a 40-city tour. Following The Dance, Christine McVie retired from the band permanently, and the remaining four (Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood) produced a new album released in 2003 called Say You Will. The new album included 18 new songs written by Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. They then went on an 18-month worldwide tour over the United States, Canada, Australia, and Europe.

In interviews given in November 2006 to support his solo album, Under The Skin, Buckingham stated that there were plans for the band to reunite once more for a 2008 tour but recording plans had been put on hold for the foreseeable future. In a September 2007 interview Stevie Nicks gave to the UK newspaper The Daily Telegraph, she noted that she is unwilling to carry on with the band unless Christine McVie returns. However in a recent interview, Mick Fleetwood said "…be very happy and hopeful that we will be working again. I can tell you everyone's going to be extremely excited about what's happening with Fleetwood Mac."

On June 9, 2008, The New York Times reported that Irving Azoff is in the process of negotiating a deal with Wal-Mart for Fleetwood Mac's new album. The article states "Mr. Azoff said that he was already talking to Wal-Mart about an exclusive deal for Fleetwood Mac’s next release. 'Classic rock really works there,' Mr. Azoff said."

According to Stevie Nicks, "the group will start working on material and recording probably in October, and finish an album."

However, instead of returning to the studio, the band instead went back out on the road in 2009 for a greatest hits tour called "Fleetwood Mac Unleashed," the first time the band have gone out on tour without an album to support. The tour saw the band play throughout the United States as well as returning, for the first time in years, to play dates in Canada, Europe, and the UK.

On January 11, 2014, Mick Fleetwood announced that Christine McVie would be rejoining Fleetwood Mac, and the news was confirmed on January 13.

www.fleetwoodmac.com/

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