The police were a rock band from London. They formed in 1977. Sting was on lead vocal and bass, Andy Summers on guitar and back up vocal as well as Stewart Copeland on drums, vocals, and percussion. Becoming world known in the later part of the 1970's, they are known to be one of the very first new wave groups that went mainstream.

The Police

"It accumulates over the years and I've led so many bands of my own now and forced myself into new situations... You would hope that you play better and better - until you just get too feeble to do it anymore."

The police were a rock band from London. They formed in 1977. Sting was on lead vocal and bass, Andy Summers on guitar and back up vocal as well as Stewart Copeland on drums, vocals, and percussion. Becoming world known in the later part of the 1970's, they are known to be one of the very first new wave groups that went mainstream.

Meeting up at First

The police were first founded by Stewart Copeland in 1977. Sting and Henry Padovani had started to rehearse together with Copeland in early 1977. They recorded their first single, Fall Out / Nothing Achieving. Both of these tracks were produced as well as written by Copeland along with Ian Copeland, his brother. They toured as a support act for Cherry Vanilla, and Wayne County & the Electric Chairs in March and April of 1977. In May, Mike Howlett invited Andy Summers and Sting as a project band to form Strontium 90, for the Gong reunion.

They recorded multiple demo tracks while at Virtual Earth Studios. In July 1977, The Police started to play as a four piece band, instead of three, they added Summers into the mix. After a failed recording session they had with their producer, John Cale, Padovani decided to leave the band. Summers began to take over all of the guitar parts. This would be the lineup for the remainder of their career.

Moving on with Their Career

Their first album they released, Outlandos d'Amour was difficult for them because they did not have a very large budge to work with. They also didn't have record deal or even a manager. When Copeland's older brother first heard Roxanne he was immediately able to get them signed with A&M Records. The song gained widespread success and recognition. In 1979, they released their second album titled Reggatta de Blanc. The album held major hits such as Message in a Bottle and Walking on the Moon. Their instrumental track won the Grammy Award for the Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

In 1980, they went on to do their first world tour. Pressured to release another album, they released Zenyatta Mondatta in the autumn of 1980. This album gave them their third UK number one hit entitled Don't Stand So Close to Me. This song also won the Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance for Duo or Group. Sting's career began to raise more because of his ongoing acting career. This put strain on Sting and Copeland's relationship. The band's fourth album, Ghost in the Machine, was released in 1981. It spawned hit singles such as Every Little Thing She Does is Magic and Invisible Sun. The band took a break from each other in 1982 to work on their own acting, and singing careers separately.

A Little Further Down the Road

Synchronicity was released in 1983 and was the group's last album. The songs on the album include Every Breath You Take and Wrapped Around Your Finger. The Synchronicity tour started in the summer of 1983 in Chicago, Illinois and ended in Melbourne, Australia in March 1984 at the show grounds. Each of the band members had extra musical instruments, and also had backup singers dressed in robes that joined in for songs such as Tea in the Sahara.

Every Breath You Take won a Grammy for Song of the Year. It also won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group. After the tour ended, the group broke up to pursue their own individual careers. The three musicians got back together to play for the Amnesty International: A Conspiracy of Hope Tour.

The Last of the Road

In March 2003, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and performed their top charted songs live, as a group. Henry Padovani released an album with the participation from Sting, and Copeland to have the original band members together again for the first time since 1977.

The band opened for the 49^th Annual Grammy Awards in February 2007 in Los Angeles, California. They started their reunion tour in Vancouver in May in front of 32,000 fans at one of the two nearly sold out concerts. Padovani joined the band on stage for the final encore of their show in Paris. In October 2007, the band played the largest gig of their career by playing in front of 82,000 fans in Dublin, Ireland. They continued their tour throughout the world. Once the tour was over, that was it for the group, there would not be another album or another tour. The final show of the tour was held in Madison Square Garden in NYC, they announced they were donating one million dollars of the proceeds to the mayor to plant one million trees in the city by 2017. The tour sold 3.7 million tickets, and grossed $358 million. This made it the third highest grossing tour of all time.

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