The Police
Contents |
Introduction
The Police are a rock band that were formed in London in 1977. This was at a time when punk rock was at its peak in England and though The Police could never be described as a punk band they used that image to some extent to gain an audience. Whilst their early records were undoubtably influenced by punk they also took influence from reggae and jazz.
Their albums have sold massively, apparently they have sold more than 50 million copies!!
They are a trio consisting of Sting on bass and vocals, Andy Summers on guitar and vocals and Stewart Copeland on drums and vocals. There were frequent tensions within the band and in 1984 they disbanded and followed solo careers. However in 2007 they reformed for an extremely successful and lucrative reunion tour which made them the highest paid musicians in the world during 2008. This was intended to be a one off reunion but time will tell if they can resist the lure to play together again.
History and Evolution
The 70s
The band formed in January 1977. Stewart Copeland formerly of prog rock band Curved Air is credited as being the driving force in the formation of the band. He was joined by Sting on bass and vocals and by guitarist Henry Padovani. They recorded their first single in February 1977.
The trio gigged and toured the UV as a support band. In parallel with this in April of 1977 Sting met and played with Andy Summers in a band named Strontium 90 and due to the absence of a drummer Stewart Copeland was invited along too.
This resulted in Summers joining THe Police as rythym guitarist in July 77 and so The Police became a quartet. However Sting became increasingly disenchanted with the comparative limitations in the guitar prowess of Padovani who subsequently quickly left the band. This left the classic Police lineup of Sting, Summers and Copeland.
