Sting: Do you know these eleven facts about the exceptional musician?

Sting
Do you know these eleven facts about the exceptional musician?

Sting celebrates his 70th birthday on October 2nd.

© Eric Ryan Anderson

Sting will be 70 years old on October 2nd. The exceptional artist is famous worldwide for his music. But do you also know these eleven facts?

Sting (70) is a world star – and has been for more than 40 years. At first he was successful with his band The Police and gave his fans catchy tunes with “Every Breath You Take” (1983) or “Message in a Bottle” (1979). After the gradual breakup of the group in the 90s, Sting concentrated on his solo career and celebrated further success with songs such as “Englishman in New York” (1988), “Fragile” (1988) or “Shape of My Heart” (1993). His voice is world-famous, but do you also know the following eleven facts?

His early years

Sting was born as Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner on October 2, 1951 in Wallsend, England. He received his stage name Sting even before his first successes. In German the word means something like “sting”. In the early 1970s he appeared in various bands. One evening he wore a yellow and black striped sweater that made him look like a wasp in the eyes of one of his bandmates. This is how Sting was born.

At around the same time, Gordon Sumner was not yet a full-time musician, but pursued an everyday job: from 1971 to 1941 he trained as a teacher for English and music, after which he taught at a Catholic school for two years. On the side he mainly played jazz music. He had previously worked as a bus conductor, construction worker and tax officer.

His children

Sting has six children: Joe (44) and Fuchsia (39) are from his first marriage to Frances Tomelty (72). The two married in 1976 and divorced in 1984. He has four other children with his second wife Trudie Styler (67), with whom he has been married since 1992: Mickey (37), Jake (36), Eliot (31) and Giacomo (25).

The birth of his son Jake was even caught on camera. Since Sting’s son was born in 1985 directly after a concert, Sting took the film team from the concert video with him to the clinic. On the video for “Bring On the Night” the birth is now immortalized forever.

Of his great fortune there would certainly be enough left for each of his children, but he does not want to bequeath anything to his six offspring. Sting explained in 2014 the “Daily Mail”that his children should earn their own living. He also said, “I told them there wasn’t much money left because we were spending it!”

Not just singers, but actors too

Sting is best known as a singer, but he has also appeared as an actor. He made his debut in the movie “Quadrophenia” (1979). This was followed by “Der Wüstenplanet” (1984) alongside Kyle MacLachlan (62), Jürgen Prochnow (80) and Sir Patrick Stewart (81) as well as “Stormy Monday” (1988).

Sting also played a small role in the comedy “Bube, Dame, König, grAs” (1998). The film was directed by his good friend Guy Ritchie (53). The fact that he was married to Madonna (63) in his second marriage is partly thanks to Sting and his wife Trudie Styler. The musician invited Ritchie and Madonna to a dinner party in 1998 and is said to have paired them up there. However, their love was not lucky: Madonna and Guy Ritchie divorced in 2008 after eight years of marriage.

Sting’s passions: yoga and soccer

Sting is 70 years old, but is still on the big stages of the world and is busy releasing music. He keeps himself young through his regular yoga practice, among other things. “For me, everything is yoga!” He declared in 2017 in an interview with the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”. “Walking is yoga, sitting is yoga, eating is yoga. Yoga is a conscious movement and breathing technique. I can practice that anywhere.”

Another Sting passion is soccer. How passionately he can talk about the sport shows a “world” interview from 2019. Sting played soccer as a child and later coached a girls’ team. His heart beats for the Newcastle United team. Why? “You don’t normally choose a football club. The city you’re born in has a team and that’s yours. And it stays that way for a lifetime,” he said.

Commitment to the rainforest

Newly discovered plants and animals are sometimes named after stars and celebrities. Sting also received this honor: there is a yellow-brown tree frog called Dendropsophus stingi, also known as Hyla stingi. The frog, which is native to Colombia, was named after him because of Sting’s commitment to the rainforest: in 1987 the musician founded the Rainforest Foundation.

Retirement is out of the question for Sting: Less than two months after his 70th birthday, the music star releases his new album “The Bridge”, which was made during the lockdown. The long player will be released on November 19th. Just recently, Sting was also on stage in Germany: The exceptional artist opened the Reeperbahn Festival in Hamburg at the end of September with his new song “Rushing Water”.

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