Sting
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
Before the Police were officially disbanded, Sting began work on his first solo album late in 1984, rounding up a group of jazz musicians as a supporting band. Moving from bass to guitar, he recorded his solo debut, 1985s The Dream of the Blue Turtles, with Branford Marsalis, Kenny Kirkland, and Omar Hakim. The move wasnt entirely unexpected, since Sting had played with jazz and progressive rock bands in his youth, but the result was considerably more mature and diverse than any Police record. The album became a hit, with If You Love Somebody Set Them Free, Love Is the Seventh Wave, and Fortress Around Your Heart reaching the American Top Ten. Sting brought the band out on an extensive tour, which was captured on a documentary called #Bring on the Night, which appeared in 1986, along with a live double album of the same name. That year, Sting participated in a half-hearted Police reunion that resulted in only one new song, a re-recorded version of Dont Stand So Close to Me.
Following the aborted Police reunion, Sting began working on the ambitious Nothing Like the Sun, which was dedicated to his recently deceased mother. Working from a jazz foundation, and again collaborating with Marsalis, Sting worked with a number of different musicians on the album, including Gil Evans and former Police guitarist Andy Summers. The album received generally positive reviews upon its release in late 1987, and it generated hit singles with Well Be Together and They Dance Alone. Following its release, Sting began actively campaigning for Amnesty International and environmentalism, establishing the Rainforest Foundation, which was designed to raise awareness about preserving the Brazilian rainforest. An abridged Spanish version of Nothing Like the Sun, Nada Como el Sol, was released in 1988.
Sting took several years to deliver the follow-up to Nothing Like the Sun, during which time he appeared in a failed Broadway revival of +The Threepenny Opera in 1989. His father also died, which inspired 1991s The Soul Cages, a dense, dark, and complex album. Although the album peaked at number two and spawned the Top Ten hit All This Time, the record was less successful than its predecessor. Two years later, he delivered Ten Summoners Tales, a light, pop-oriented record that became a hit on the strength of two Top 20 singles, If I Ever Lose My Faith in You and Fields of Gold. At the end of 1993, All for Love, a song he recorded with Rod Stewart and Bryan Adams for #The Three Musketeers, became a number one hit. The single confirmed that Stings audience had shifted from ew wave/college rock fans to adult contemporary, and the 1994 compilation Fields of Gold: The Best of Sting played to that audience.
Three years after Ten Summoners Tales, Sting released Mercury Falling in the spring of 1996. Although the album debuted highly, it quickly fell down the charts, stalling at platinum sales and failing to generate a hit single. While the album failed, Sting remained a popular concert attraction, confirming his immense popularity. Brand New Day, which followed in 1999, turned his commercial fortunes around in a big way, and 2003s Sacred Love did well also.
