Sting bio, age, best songs, height, family, wife, children, net worth 2025

Sting's Biography

Sting is an actor, musician, and singer, who has become a legend of the global rock scene. He is a former member of The Police. He is an Emmy and Golden Globe winner, and has his own Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. He has been nominated for an Oscar four times. In 2020, the music magazine Rolling Stone placed Sting in the top 50 best bassists in history (at 32nd place).

Sting's music has captivated millions, showcasing just how multifaceted and powerful talent can be when someone follows their true calling. Much has been written and said about his creativity, acting career, philanthropy, spiritual quest, and personal life. Here, we've gathered the most important facts about this living legend's remarkable life.

Childhood

On a gray October morning in 1951, a child was born in an English port city to Audrey and Ernest Matthew Sumner—they named him Gordon Matthew Thomas. His father worked as a machinery fitter, while his mother did hair for a handful of clients before retraining as a nurse.

She was 18 when Gordon, her first child, was born. Soon came younger brother Phil and sisters Angela and Anita in quick succession, filling the house with constant crying. Audrey couldn't manage to work while raising four children, so the father became the sole breadwinner, earning about 8 pounds a week. They weren't poor exactly, but money only stretched to cover basic food and hand-me-down clothes. His parents constantly fought over money, arguments that sometimes turned physical.

Sting's parents: Ernest and Audrey Sumner

The industrial district of Wallsend, where Gordon grew up, is located on the North Sea coast, close to Newcastle. A thriving shipyard once operated here, but after World War II ended and ship demand plummeted, the area fell into decline.

Young Gordon Sumner (in the photo with his aunt)

The windows of the Sumner house faced the waterfront. Massive hulls of derelict ships cast shadows across the entire neighborhood. Polluted air, crumbling houses, drunk pub regulars—this was Sting's world growing up. The main childhood impression of the boy was the colors:

The main colors of my childhood are black and gray. Black is the color of coal mined in my hometown. And gray is the color of the sea, which remained so even in clear weather. I wouldn't want to go back to that past for anything in the world.

From an early age, Gordon had to attend a local Catholic school known for its strict discipline. The Jesuit community to which the Sumners belonged practiced corporal punishment of children. The boy experienced this "education" system to the fullest. Never one to keep quiet or follow rules, Gordon faced punishment far more than his classmates. The future Sting still holds the school's grim "record"—more than fifty beatings in a single year.

This is how the house where Sting spent his childhood looks like now

According to Sting's memories, the only joys in the town were the days when a newly built ship was solemnly launched onto the sea from the shipyard. Townspeople would dress up and pack the square to hear the musicians brought in for the occasion. To young Gordon, these musicians seemed like gods from another world, bringing joy he'd never known.

When he received a guitar as a gift from his uncle at age ten, the boy was absolutely thrilled. He immediately started teaching himself to play, alongside the piano that looked oddly out of place in their shabby living room (Audrey had played it first, and quite well, but eventually gave up music).

Recognizing her eldest son's passion for music, his mother enrolled him in lessons with a teacher who charged 10 shillings per session—a hefty sum for their family income. The teacher soon quit, declaring Gordon unteachable. The problem was that the boy wanted to play his own songs, not academic etudes.

The music teacher recognized Gordon as unteachable. How wrong he was

Meanwhile, Gordon helped his father (who had retrained as a milkman), became the school's 100-meter dash champion and football team star, yet was constantly punished for fighting classmates who mocked his height by calling him Lurch (from "The Addams Family"). The taunts hit deep, making Gordon withdraw from his peers—he'd rather read books than play football or throw stones at girls.

Sting was an introverted teenager who loved books

His grandmother—who he saw as the family's only cultured member—sparked Gordon's love of books. At five, she had him read "Treasure Island." Jim Hawkins' adventures became his escape from reality, launching a voracious reading habit. He became a dreamy kid whose grades were mediocre—except in English and literature, where he excelled.

The Police

Why Gordon Sumner chose teacher's college remains a mystery even to him. His search for the right career proved frustrating, despite stints as an English teacher, road worker, tax inspector, and private music tutor.

For a while, Sting was a school teacher (pictured in the top row)

Evenings found him at local big band rehearsals after grading papers—just a hobby, he figured. Weekends meant gigs at a large dance hall, where Gordon's roomy black-and-yellow striped sweater caught the eye of Stewart Copeland—a drummer with a reputation who was forming a new band. Legend has it Copeland offered Sumner both world domination and a new stage name: Sting.

Allegedly, it was because of the sweater, which resembled a bee in color, that the future rock star got his famous pseudonym. "It's a very short, compact name for a signature. Almost a mask you wear as an artist, a public figure. It's not entirely you. It protects you to some extent," Sting said.

Sting Interview (Summerhouse, 1980)

However, when Gordon started performing under this name, he literally had to buy it, since there was already a famous person with the same pseudonym - wrestler Steve Borden. The wrestler agreed to a lucrative deal and sold all the "rights" to the name "Sting" to the musician, who's now known worldwide by this moniker.

Soon after, guitarist Henry Padovani joined Stewart and Sting, and the trio The Police was born in 1977 in London, the punk-rock capital, and began performing. Later, guitarist Andy Summers joined them. Their sound defied genre classification: they mixed punk with reggae rhythms, synth-pop, pop-rock, and soul, all anchored by powerful lyrics.

A young Sting at the beginning of his career

The musicians struggled to make ends meet early on when their first two singles Fall Out and Roxanne were released (the latter was outright banned since the song dealt with prostitution). The Police's promotion got a boost from an unexpected source - Wrigley, the chewing gum manufacturer, offered the band a commercial deal on one condition: they had to bleach their hair to match the pearly white smile their gum promised. They agreed, and blonde hair would become one of the band's signature looks.

The Police – Roxanne

Things were looking up. Following the commercial shoot, the band released their debut album Outlandos d'Amour, which hit sixth place on the charts despite being recorded under pretty basic conditions. In 1978, producer Miles Copeland heard the song Roxanne. He helped The Police land a deal with major label A&M.

The car that Sting bought after signing a contract with A&M

The following year, Sting and his colleagues re-released the single with this fateful song. While radio stations ignored it in 1978, the second time around the song became a hit. This led to grueling US tours, including shows at the legendary Manhattan club CBGB.

But The Police really broke through with the release of albums Zenyatta Mondatta, Regatta de Blanc, and Ghost in the Machine. The single Invisible Sun from that final album tackled the Belfast hunger strike of political prisoners in 1981 and broader themes of political oppression. The politically charged song was banned by the BBC.

The Police – Invisible Sun

The hit Every Breath You Take, recorded in the fifth and final studio album Synchronicity, brought the band to the peak of fame. The creation of the song was prompted by Sting's divorce from his wife, Frances Tomelty.

The Police – Every Breath You Take

By the early '80s, Sting had cemented his role as the band's undisputed frontman. His star power grew through film roles (Quadrophenia, Radio On), his position as lead vocalist (naturally putting him center stage), and his outrageous antics. Case in point: during a tour in Australia, where The Police were huge, Sting got mouthy with a pushy customs officer, telling him to shove the suitcase contents up his ass. That landed him in a jail cell until the band's producer bailed him out.

In the era of The Police, Sting was known as a brawler and a scandalous figure

Gordon would either brawl with paparazzi, vanish for months at a time (later revealed to be either Jamaica vacations or drug rehab stints), party with shady millionaires, or get busted cheating on his wife. In one interview, Sting casually revealed there was a time when he was constantly having group sex. Yet he was also seen as an intellectual who could quote philosophy's founding fathers from memory, with a particular love for Carl Jung.

Blue Turtles and a Solo Career

Sting's fascination with Jung's work indirectly led him to leave The Police and launch his solo career. While sunbathing on Barbados beaches, he had a vivid dream where four massive blue turtles burst into his garden and wreaked havoc, destroying everything in their path. In the dream, Sting ran with them, reveling in and helping the destruction.

When he woke up, Sting realized this was perhaps the first dream he remembered so clearly, and that the blue turtles represented his dark side—something Jung believed every artist possesses.

I knew that the dark side of personality has a huge creative potential. But it goes hand in hand with destructive potential. The turtles suggested to me that I need to channel my 'demons' in the right direction. Not to destroy myself, as I had been doing before, but all my creativity, and start from scratch.

So in 1984, Sting left The Police at their peak, hired relatively unknown jazz musicians, and recorded his debut solo album "The Dream of the Blue Turtles" while simultaneously filing for divorce from his wife—he could no longer live the lie. But first, he had to face the awkward task of breaking the news to his bandmates, then endure a massive farewell tour.

"The Dream of the Blue Turtles"—featuring the famous song about Russia, the Cold War, and nuclear fears, built around Sergey Prokofiev's "Romance"—went platinum. The song "Russians" was inspired by Soviet children's programs. At the time, Britain held the stereotype that Russians didn't love their children. A scientist friend who could intercept Soviet satellite signals once invited Sting to watch Soviet TV. It was morning, and children's programs were on. Sting couldn't remember the show names, but the atmosphere of care and love struck him: "Both the West and USSR have put children's futures at stake. We love our children, so we won't destroy the world."

Sting – Russians

His next album, "Nothing Like the Sun"—its title inspired by a Shakespearean sonnet—topped charts worldwide. Sting recorded it with Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler. From this album forward, Sting channeled all his modern-world concerns into his music. Songs became dedications to fallen musicians, dramatic events in America and Chile, and upheavals in his own life. This was when people started calling him a legend. It was then that he received the Order of the British Empire for his outstanding contribution to the arts and many other awards.

Acting Career

The restless and driven Sting didn't just become one of the world's most popular musicians – he also carved out a successful acting career.

In 1979, he made his film debut playing Ace, the leader of a mod gang in "Quadrophenia" – a youth drama featuring The Who's music. That same year, he appeared in the existential detective film "Radio On".

Three years later, Sting took the lead in British director Richard Loncraine's drama "Brimstone & Treacle," playing a young con man who poses as the fiancé of a comatose girl following a freak accident. The film's controversial rape scene sparked fierce criticism of both the director and Sting.

On the set of the film "Brimstone & Treacle"

In 1984, David Lynch's "Dune" hit theaters as a major sci-fi cinema event. Sting, sporting newly dyed red hair, played the heir to Baron Harkonnen, one of the story's main villains.

Next up was "The Bride," a Frankenstein-inspired drama where Sting starred opposite Jennifer Beals. But once he left The Police, Sting largely stepped away from acting.

Sting - Shape of My Heart (Leon)

His biggest commercial film success came with Guy Ritchie's crime caper "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels." You could say Ritchie got his break thanks to Sting – or more accurately, Sting's wife. A friend connected the director with Trudie Styler. Sting's wife ran a production company and took interest in Ritchie's short film "Hard Case." She didn't just give the first-time filmmaker the funding he desperately needed – she also talked her husband into taking a role. Sting plays JD, a bar owner and father of Eddie, the main character who's gotten in deep at the card table.

Sting in the film "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"

Writing, Yoga, and Other Projects

As he approached his fiftieth birthday, Sting released his autobiographical book "Broken Music." The musician began writing it driven by a deep need to show people who he really is, beyond the image crafted by the internet and glossy magazines. But as he wrote, he discovered he didn't actually know who the protagonist of his future book was. He had to unlock memories one by one, doors he thought he'd sealed forever. After completing the book and seeing himself with fresh eyes, the musician spiraled into a depression that lasted over two years.

A man who suffers, experiences, and reflects, he founded the Rainforest Foundation Fund, participated in countless charity events, and dove deep into yoga, which became central to Sting's life:

In deep meditation, when you truly face the terrifying grandeur of eternity, you begin to trust something that will hold and guide you through this terror, this fear. I learned to trust the power of love. Love for yourself, for the people close to you... Love for simplicity, sincerity, truth. I think without love, none of these things make sense. It might all sound pretty banal right now, but it's true. Love overcomes everything. Amor vincietomnia.

The main character of the Hellblazer comics, published by Vertigo (a DC imprint), was inspired by Sting—specifically his characters in "Quadrophenia" and "Brimstone and Treacle." Its creators were big fans of The Police.

John Constantine is a dark magician and exorcist, cursed and doomed to a solitary life because of a mistake he made in his youth. The musician was flattered—he read all 300+ issues, and for the 30th anniversary of "Hellblazer" in 2018, he wrote a preface to the anniversary collection and congratulated John Constantine on Twitter.

Sting's Personal Life

Gordon Sumner lost his virginity at 15 to an attractive brunette classmate. After her, he dated a girl considered the most beautiful around. The bar was set high for the young man whose mother turned heads, but this girl cleared it easily. She came from a good family and adored her boyfriend, but was hardly "intellectual." Gordon tried getting her to read books, but she preferred teen magazines, so he eventually gave up and just enjoyed their regular bedroom encounters. He didn't have deep feelings for her, but when she got pregnant, he stepped up. But when she miscarried in her third month, he couldn't help feeling relieved.

Sting – Englishman in New York

For a while, he kept seeing her, but then he met Caroline—an intellectual equal who was deep into Jean-Paul Sartre. He couldn't bring himself to leave his previous girlfriend: first he felt sorry for her losing the baby, then her mother died of cancer. After wavering between them, he finally found the courage to choose Caroline. Three years later, she dumped him—a first for Gordon.

Later on, the musician lost count of his sexual partners, but according to Sting, three women had a powerful influence on his life.

The first, Deborah Anderson, was a stunning, tall girl Gordon Sumner met through mutual friends. They were both twenty years old, and Deborah was considered his friend John's girlfriend. But their chemistry was so intense that Sting swept her away from the party—and from his friend. It was his first real romance, his first taste of betrayal, and an all-consuming desire to discover each other completely.

In a 2003 interview, the musician would call Deborah 'his first real girlfriend'—she inspired 'Walking on the Moon,' one of The Police's biggest hits. When Sting left her house, he felt like he was floating in zero gravity.

The girl believed that their idyll would end in marriage, but Gordon knew this wouldn't happen. He was already playing in a jazz band, dreaming of stardom, and desperate to escape their sleepy town for the wider world. Despite his deep feelings and his mother's not-so-subtle hints that he'd never find anyone better, Sting ended things with Deborah.

When he was already married to Frances Tomelty, who had given birth to his son (Joseph, born 1976), and the whole family lived in London where the musician was achieving his first creative successes, his mother called to tell him that Deborah had died. Gordon was consumed by guilt for years, drowning it in alcohol and losing himself in drugs and other destructive habits. Frances, a struggling actress, put up with everything—even having a second child (Fuchsia Katherine, born 1982).

But Sting started vanishing for longer and longer stretches, claiming work obligations and the need to provide for his family. Until the truth came out: his absences were about a new woman—actress Trudie Styler, who bore a striking resemblance to his first love... This was the moment Sting left The Police and decided to end his marriage to Tomelty, no matter how much it would hurt.

Trudie transformed his life beyond his wildest dreams. She gave Sting four children - Mickey (1984), Jake (1985), Eliot (1990), and Giacomo (1995).

Sting and Trudie's children: Jack, Mickey and Eliot

Eventually, Sting worked hard to bring his two older children—Joe and Kate—together with his four younger kids. Mickey bonded with his older half-siblings and joined Kate at family gatherings. Eliot had a successful solo career. Sting gave her his very first bass guitar—the one he'd learned on himself. Jake is a model, and Giacomo is the frontman of the band Fiction Plane.

Between tours, Sting would return to his sprawling estate near Stonehenge. Summers meant Tuscany, where he and Trudie owned an estate centered around a 16th-century palazzo. In the estate, Sting built a chapel with a large statue of Buddha. The 300-hectare property sprawls across forests, vineyards, olive groves, and two pristine lakes.

Sting's house was built in the XVI century

The family runs a winemaking operation and produces their own olive oil, cheese, honey, and vegetables. The musician adheres to a macrobiotic diet, refuses semi-finished products and preservatives, reduces the consumption of dairy and meat products. Major tours aren't complete without a personal chef, though Sting admits he likes to indulge in ice cream and chocolate, plus a glass of his own wine. Maybe this lifestyle helps the 68-year-old artist maintain teenage energy levels and stay happy. And of course, there's music - something Sting can't imagine living without:

There is definitely something healing in music not only for the one who sings, but also for the listeners. I take this shamanic aspect of music seriously, without egocentrism. There is something that you transmit, broadcast... It's all about vibrations and higher vibrations. If you have a good voice, there is harmony all the way up and down. It connects us with something beyond our understanding. Music will always be for me the only way of prayer. It will be a big surprise when I stand before the Lord.

Sting Now

Lately, Sting hasn't been recording much new material. But in 2019 he dropped the album "My Songs" featuring fresh arrangements and reworked versions of classic tracks. He had several 2020 tours lined up (including Eastern Europe dates), but COVID-19 wiped them all out.

In 2021, he geared up to release his 15th studio album "The Bridge". Sting turned 70 on October 2, and the album was released on November 19. Sting explained that with this new work, he was searching for answers to questions sparked by the pandemic, isolation, and political upheaval. The album title says it all - "bridge":

These songs... they are somewhere between points A and B. Between the conscious and the unconscious. Between life and death. Between relationships. Between pandemics and eras - politically, socially, and psychologically. We are all stuck in the middle of 'nothing', and we all need a bridge.

Photos: Sting