The Police

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For other uses, please see The Police (disambiguation)
The Police
Live image of The Police in concert, 2007-08-05 at Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey.
Background information
Origin: London, England
Years active: 1977 - 1984
Reunions: 1986, 2003, 2007 - 2008
Label(s): Illegal Records, A&M Records, Polydor
Associated acts: Last Exit, Curved Air, Strontium 90, Animal Logic, Oysterhead, Gizmo
Website: http://www.thepolice.com
Members
Stewart Copeland
Sting
Andy Summers
Former members
Henry Padovani

Band history

Formation (1977–78)

The Police were the brainchild of drummer Stewart Copeland, who by the end of 1976 saw that the progressive rock scene of excess in music and budget, as typified by his current group Curved Air, was dying. Copeland believed that the future lay in the growing punk scene and determined that he should form such a group himself, even having a name for it (The Police) before having recruited any other members.

On 1976-12-05, Curved Air performed one of their last concerts at Newcastle Polytechnic and Copeland was then taken by friend Phil Sutcliffe] to see one of Phil's favored bands, Last Exit, perform at St. Mary's College. Copeland didn't care for the music, but was impressed by their bass player Sting--mostly for his skills with his instrument, although it was a bonus that he could sing as well. After the performance, Copeland met Sting for the first time and invited him to come to London to join his group.

26 Green Street, Mayfair, where the first Police rehearsals took place.

Copeland met guitarist Henry Padovani near the same time at the Roxy Club in London and also invited him into his forming band. At first Padovani and Copeland jammed some with Stewart's brother Ian and Curved Air's singer/Stewart's girlfriend Sonja Kristina. In January of 1977, Sting did come to London and began rehearsing with Stewart and Henry at Stewart's squat at 26 Green Street, Mayfair. Their first photo-session as a band would take place on 1977-01-22 and on 1977-02-12 they recorded their first single, "Fall Out"/"Nothing Achieving".

In March and April of that year, Copeland, Padovani and Sting toured as a support act for Cherry Vanilla as well as Wayne County & the Electric Chairs. Stewart's brother Miles arranged getting them on the Cherry Vanilla tour as she had only come to England to tour with her guitarist and needed a bass player and drummer--hence Stewart and Sting could perform double-duty. In May, ex-Gong musician Mike Howlett invited Sting and former Eric Burdon and the Animals guitarist Andy Summers to form Strontium 90 with him, as a project band for a Gong reunion. The drummer Howlett had in mind for this band, Chris Cutler, was unavailable to play, so Sting brought along Stewart. Strontium 90 recorded several demo tracks at Virtual Earth Studios, and then performed at a Gong reunion concert in Paris on 1977-05-28. The foursome also performed at a London club as "The Elevators" in July 1977, but found it difficult to work as a band with two bass players.

In July 1977, Copeland, Sting, Padovani, and Summers began performing as a four-piece version of the Police. Padovani's relatively limited ability as a guitarist curtailed his tenure with the band. Soon after an aborted recording session with producer John Cale on 10 August, Padovani left the band and Summers took over sole guitar duties. This lineup of Copeland, Sting, and Summers would endure for the rest of Police history.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Sting proved a capable songwriter. He had spent time as a secondary school English teacher, and his lyrics are noted for their literary awareness and verbal agility. Material in the later album Ghost in the Machine was inspired by the writings of Arthur Koestler, and songs on Synchronicity by the writings of Carl Jung. "Tea in the Sahara" on the latter album showed interest in the work of author Paul Bowles.

The Police, along with The Clash, were among the first mainstream white bands to adopt reggae as a predominant musical form, and to score major international hits with reggae-styled material. Although ska and reggae were already popular in the United Kingdom, the style was little known in the United States or other countries. Prior to the emergence of the Police, only a handful of reggae songs—such as Eric Clapton's 1974 cover rendition of Bob Marley's "I Shot the Sheriff" or Paul Simon's "Mother and Child Reunion"—had enjoyed much chart success. The bleached-blonde hair that would become a trademark of the band was a lucky accident, originating in February 1978. The band, desperate for money, was asked to do a commercial for Wrigley's Spearmint chewing gum on the condition that they dye their hair blonde.<ref>Obrecht, Jan. "Andy Summers". Template:Harvnb</ref>Allmusic Guide notes that while the "...commercial provided exposure, it drew the scorn of genuine punkers". <reF>http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gifyxqr5ldhe~T1 </ref>

Band members


Discography

Main article: Discography (The Police)

Studio albums

Awards & Honors

Year Winner Award
1980 Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Reggatta de Blanc" Grammy Award
1982 Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Don't Stand So Close To Me" Grammy Award
1982 Best Rock Instrumental Performance for "Behind My Camel" Grammy Award
1982 Best British Group BRIT Award
1983 Song of the Year for "Every Breath You Take" (awarded to Sting) Grammy Award
1984 Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for "Every Breath You Take" Grammy Award
1984 Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for Synchronicity Grammy Award
1985 Outstanding Contribution To Music BRIT Award
2003 Induction into Hall of Fame Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Quotations and Trivia

This section needs more information.

See also

http://www.policefans.org/Police_wiki/index.php?title=1983-08-27

External links

References

  • Copeland, Stewart. Strange Things Happen. HarperStudio, 2009.
  • Padovani, Henry. Secret Police Man. Pen Press, 2010.
  • "The Police." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 24 Apr. 2008 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Police>
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