Stewart Copeland: Have I Said Too Much?

 

He’s a bona fide rock star, the sort of head-turning, headline-generating, household name who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame before today’s music stars had even been born. Stewart Copeland became an all-time great after recruiting Sting and Andy Summers into his band, The Police, in 1977.

 

They enjoyed four consecutive number one studio albums, winning Grammy and BRIT Awards, and selling a cool 75 million records. Enjoying number-one hits with Message In A Bottle, Walking On The Moon, Don’t Stand So Close To Me, Everything Little Thing She Does Is Magic, and the peerless, multi-platinum Every Breath You Take, The Police became one of the most influential bands that Britain has ever produced. For a while, they were the biggest in the world, before disbanding at the height of their fame in 1986 and periodically returning for one-offs and a reunion tour in 2007, which was the highest-grossing tour in the world.

 

Copeland was far from done. After The Police first disbanded, he began composing soundtracks for cult and blockbuster movies, starting with Grammy winning Francis Ford Coppola’s Rumblefish. He’s spent the subsequent near-four decades at the forefront of contemporary music, as a rock star and acclaimed film composer, and across the worlds of opera, ballet, chamber, and world music. 

 

More recently, he published two autobiographical books and unveiled Police Deranged For Orchestra, a remarkable, orchestral reimagining of The Police’s best works. A polymath and creative tour de force, Copeland is anything but ‘yer average rock star’.