The Man Who Would Be Sting

Many months ago, I was contacted by a writer, Greg Camden. He, along with dozens of other writers, had been contracted by Blueline Media to write an eBook. Greg's book was about Sting, and he had gleaned information from various resources, including print, the Web, and personal anecdotes to compile his book.

Unfortunately, Blueline Media went belly-up and it is questionable whether any of the contracted authors were paid. Whether or not Blueline Media's motives were sinister or not is not for me to say.

Although his work would never be compiled into the eBook for which he was contracted, Mr. X is offering his text for Suite101 readers to enjoy. Here is part 1 of the series of Flexible Strategies--The Many Incarnations of Sting

If you have any comments or feedback to share with the author, please send them to melgold@suite101.com and I will pass them on to him. Thank you, and enjoy!

Photo courtesy of BUZZ magazine, 1991.

The Man Who Would Be Sting

We were the class they couldn't teach / 'Cause we knew better / We were born, born in the '50s

—"Born in the 50's [sic] ," 1978

Love him or hate him, there is little question that Sting is a rather unique figure in the history of popular music. But even Sting--he of legendary rock/new-wave band The Police, of a critically and commercially successful solo career, star of stage and screen, noted political and environmental activist--even Sting started out like most of us: born under rather unextraordinary circumstances to a mother and a father who were, by all accounts, two ordinary people. Ernest Sumner was a dairy worker in Newcastle, England, where he lived with his wife, Audrey, who worked as a hairdresser. On October 2, 1951, Audrey--only 18 at the time--gave birth to the couple's first child, a boy, who they named Gordon Matthew--an ordinary name if there ever was one.

Perhaps the word most used to describe the industrial town of Newcastle (famous for the beer and as the place to which it's pointless to bring coal) is "bleak"--"Pittsburgh with more fog and fewer sports teams," as one former denizen puts it. However, Sting's recollections are of a different hue. "No, it was not too bad. When I look back on my life, I realize that actually it was a very fascinating place. I lived next to a shipyard, next to a river; the coal mine at one side of the town and this big shipyard at another; and the railway line going past my house. That was a very stimulating environment. It was actually a beautiful place, in a sort of strange way."

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