Two Careers Are Better Than One
© Greg Camden
What is obvious is that Sting, while rising to the very top of his profession as a songwriter and musician, has created a respectable secondary career as an actor. What is not so obvious is that even if he hadn't made it as a musician, he might have become a film star, anyway.
By the end of 1978, The Police were hardly showing signs of being the world-beaters they would one day become. Their greatest successes that year—their only successes—were a £10,000 advance against the potential royalties which their debut album, Outlandos d'Amour and a single, "Can't Stand Losing You," which just missed breaking into the top 40 in the UK. To put it mildly, neither gave the members of The Police much clout in the entertainment industry: the advance was sufficient only to pay their debts and would cut into whatever profit they would have made (as it turned out, were eventually to make) from album sales; and getting a single to #42 in the UK, with its trend-happy record-buying public (for all its two-year devotion to bands like New Kids on the Block and Backstreet Boys, the US doesn't even compare on this front), is no meritorious feat: drummer Stewart Copeland did almost as well (#48) with the single "Don't Care," which was released under the pseudonym Klark Kent. And at least he got The Police on the BBC's "Top of the Pops"—but only in disguise as Kent's backup band!
However, the point is that, even without the superstardom he would eventually enjoy, Sting landed not one but two film roles in 1978. Admittedly, one was a small role in a smaller film: Sting played Just Like Eddie in the little-seen Radio On. (Sting later revealed that he didn't think much of his role or acting in the film: "I used the same expression all the way through and in Radio On.") However, Sting's other film role that year was a coup: he beat out the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten—one of the biggest stars in the world in 1978—for the highly-visible role of Ace in Quadrophenia, a big-screen adaptation of The Who's impressive 1973 concept album. While some might be argue that in later years Sting was cast in films solely to cash in on his rock-star fame at the box office, it must be conceded that his second career was gotten underway without much help from his first. As the man himself puts it, "I made two movies before anyone knew I was a singer."
