The Police

This article is about the band. For other uses, see Police (disambiguation).

The Police
The Police
The Police, c. 1979. L-R; Stewart Copeland, Sting, and Andy Summers.
Background information
OriginLondon, England
Genres
Discography
Years active
  • 1977–1986
  • 1992
  • 2003
  • 2007–2008
Labels
Spinoffs
Spinoff of
Past members
Websitewww.thepolice.com Edit this at Wikidata

The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977.[1] Within a few months of their first gig, the line-up settled as Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar, primary songwriter), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion), and this remained unchanged for the rest of the band's history. The Police became globally popular from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.

Their 1978 debut album, Outlandos d'Amour, reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart and contains the singles "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You". Their second album, Reggatta de Blanc (1979), became the first of four consecutive No. 1 studio albums in the UK and Australia; its first two singles, "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon", became their first UK number-one singles. Their next two albums, Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) and Ghost in the Machine (1981), led to further critical and commercial success, with two songs, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", becoming UK number-one singles and Top 5 hits in other countries. The former album was their breakthrough into the US, reaching number five on the US Billboard 200.

Their final studio album, Synchronicity (1983), was No. 1 in the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy and the US, selling over 8 million copies in the US. Its lead single, "Every Breath You Take", became their fifth UK number one, and only US number one. During this time, the band were considered one of the leaders of the Second British Invasion of the US: in 1983 Rolling Stone labelled them "the first British New Wave act to break through in America on a grand scale, and possibly the biggest band in the world".[2][3] The Police disbanded in 1986, periodically reuniting for one-off performances before fully reuniting in early 2007 for a world tour ending in August 2008. They were the world's highest-earning musicians in 2008 due to their reunion tour, which was the highest-grossing tour of 2007.[4][5]

The Police have sold over 75 million records, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time.[6][7][8] The band won a number of music awards, including six Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards—winning Best British Group once, and an MTV Video Music Award. In 2003, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[9] Four of their five studio albums appeared on Rolling Stone's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". The band were included among both Rolling Stone's and VH1's lists of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time".[10][11]

  1. ^ "Police Lead Hall's New Wave". Rolling Stone. 30 March 2013. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 16 September 2017.
  2. ^ "Anglomania: The Second British Invasion". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
  3. ^ "When Video Killed Radio Stars" Archived 17 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine. New York Times. Retrieved 30 March 2013
  4. ^ "Madonna News  – The Police Are Considerably Richer Than You". idiomag. 26 September 2008. Archived from the original on 12 March 2012. Retrieved 26 September 2008.
  5. ^ "The Police Score Top-Grossing Tour of '07' ". Billboard. Retrieved 10 October 2022
  6. ^ Christie, Janet (26 May 2018). "Interview: Sting on bringing his debut musical to Scotland". The Scotsman. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  7. ^ Graff, Gary (9 August 2014). "Andy Summers finds new magic in Rock 'n' Roll". Qatar Tribune. Archived from the original on 17 July 2015. Retrieved 10 September 2014.
  8. ^ "Guitarist Andy Summers and Rob Giles release 'Circus Hero'". Electronic Musician. 27 March 2014. Archived from the original on 20 November 2016. Retrieved 20 November 2016.
  9. ^ "The Police: Timeline" Archived 14 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Rock on the Net. Retrieved 16 October 2012
  10. ^ "The Greatest Artists of All Time" Archived 17 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine. VH1/Stereogum. Retrieved 11 January 2015.
  11. ^ Flowers, Brandon. "The Police: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time" Archived 21 April 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Rolling Stone. Retrieved 11 January 2015