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Sting Gets Stung By the Lute—Oh Yeah, and The Police Are Back Together

It was just a few days before the public learned that the rumors were true: the members of the legendary ’80s pop band The Police—Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers—would celebrate its 30th reunion not only with a far-reaching reunion tour but by opening the 49th Annual Grammy Awards on Feb. 11 as well. Hollywood.com had participated in a private audience with Sting, who teased us with hints at the forthcoming reunion as well as filling us in on his latest solo project.

Before he returns to his 80s roots, Sting is going much further back, waaaay back to the Elizabethan era to explore the melancholy tunes of songwriter John Dowland along with lute master Edin Karamazov for “Sting: Songs from the Labyrinth,” which premieres on PBS’s Great Performances on Feb. 26, at 10 p.m.

HW: Let’s get straight to it. Will there be a Police reunion?
Sting:
You know, it’s the 30th anniversary. We started 30 years ago, so it would be nice to do something to celebrate…It seems an organic time to discuss the past and say, “Hey, what did we achieve?” It would be nice to do something.

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HW: Stewart Copeland said the last time that you played together in 2003, he said, “We should do this again on a tour.” And he says that you said, “Never say never.” But in retrospect he thinks what you meant was “Never. Say never.” Were you just done with both your former partners?
Sting:
Absolutely not. No, I’m deeply, deeply fond of both of them. I’m very proud of the band that we were in. I left the band because I felt I wanted to grow as a musician, to mature as a musician, and to try more things than a band is able to do. A band is very constricted. And you know, I spent the last 25 years exploring that freedom and having a great time doing it. We’re still great friends. It is the 30th anniversary. We are discussing something. Don’t know what, but definitely something. But definitely no hate. The opposite.

HW: We’d all given up hope. I think a lot of music fans would probably say that a Police reunion in addition to, say, like, a Van Halen reunion with David Lee Roth are maybe the two big reunions the world has been waiting for.
Sting:
Really? [Laughs] I’ll join Van Halen.

HW: Let’s move on to your PBS special. The demands on the voice of 16th Century music versus modern music are vastly different. How hard was it to get your voice into that kind of shape to adapt to it.
Sting:
I took this very seriously. I spent a lot of time studying and researching and took a lot of advice from people who had been in this realm for many years. And it was done with great respect. Normally, the repertoire is done by operatic singers, by trained voices, very, very wonderful. I can’t do that. I’m a pop singer, but I have — you know, I sing in tune and true to the notes that are written. Also, the songs were written 100 years before bel canto was invented. So bel canto was invented to fill huge opera houses or music halls. These songs are designed to be sung in a small room, maybe smaller than this. So perhaps my way of singing is not so inauthentic. There’s a debate. It’s an interesting debate. But I’m one end of the spectrum. But I studied hard. It’s difficult. There’s a lot of breath control and to stay concentrated. It’s like tightrope walking. I’m sweating.

HW: Where did your fascination for the music of this period come from? Was it the instrument, or was it the vocal style that drew you to and the challenge of sort of attacking that as a singer? And how difficult actually is the lute as an instrument?
Sting:
It’s very difficult. It’s not impossible to play, but it’s difficult. You know, these songs have been chasing me around for 20 years. I became aware of them in the ’80s. Someone said, you know, “You should try singing that kind of stuff.” I said, “I can’t do that. I’m a pop singer, you know.” He said, “No, there’s something in your voice that might suit that quality, that melancholy or whatever.” And I sort of ignored this, and then another person a few years later said the same thing. And I met Edin two years ago, and he said, “You know, we should sing John Dowland together.” And I was intrigued enough to say, “Okay. Well, let’s spend a few days together.” And he came to my house and we looked through the songs, and I said, “Yeah, we should do it.” So we made the record just out of curiosity and love, with no idea that we could have a Number 1 record. I mean it’s just something we did for fun. And then, at the end of a year of working this out, we decided to take a touring company, happened to be Deutsche Grammophon, the top classical company. And I said, “Yeah, we liked it.” So I was thrilled, and every day’s been an adventure since then, totally unsuspected.

HW: Your voice sounds noticeably different on the Elizabethan arrangements than how you’ve used it previously. When did you start looking at your voice as an instrument and not just an accompaniment?
Sting:
I’m still learning to be a singer. I’m still developing as a singer. And so whenever I’m given a challenge to sing — you know, I had to sing with Tony Bennett a couple months ago for a duet song. If you ever get the chance to learn something from a master like Tony Bennett, phrasing, I grasp that. And so this has been a growing thing, and I’m interested in getting better. I want to be a better singer, so I challenge myself.

HW: Is there any kind of social message that drew from the 16th or 17th Century through this music?
Sting:
This music is essentially melancholy music. Melancholy is often confused with depression. Depression is a serious clinical disease many people suffer from. Melancholy is something different. I don’t think melancholy is a bad thing. I think it can be quite a useful emotion. It comes from self-reflection, comes from thinking about the state of the world and one’s position in it and why we’re here. I think we need more self-reflection in this time. All of us, from the President on down, need to reflect on where we are and where we’re going. And I think it’s the music of self-reflection, so it’s timely.

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HW: Do think you’ll be bringing your take on this music to an audience that loves it, or bringing your audience to this style of music?
Sting:
I hope a little bit of both. I think the classical music community are coming out of curiosity, because they love Dowland and they want to see what this pop singer does with it, and also people who have probably never heard 16th Century songs before. Like, a Police fan or Sting fan will come to this thing with, I hope, an open mind and see my enthusiasm and seriousness about it. I think the record sale will tell you that somehow it’s clicked.

HW: Given that the lute is an extremely difficult instrument to play, why choose this in your semiretirement years, post rock life over something like, say, golf?
Sting:
I like a challenge. I completely like the challenge. I think it’s good to put yourself through apprenticeship now and then, to learn something new and really challenging. I’ve played guitar for many years. This is a different kind of animal altogether. You see how difficult it is to tune. It’s harder to play. But I’m fascinated by it. You know, I’m with one of the greatest lute players in the world, so he inspires me. I’m hoping it might bleed into my own [music]. Work is never wasted. If you do something well, it always helps the creative process. So whether you’ll hear it on another record, I don’t know, but it feels good. It feels like I’m doing something that I should be doing.

HW: You had a taste of “The Great American Songbook” singing with Tony Bennett recently. Have you ever thought about crossing over into that genre?
Sting:
You know, I’ll try anything. I think I have the good sense to know what I can do and what I can’t do. I like standards. I love American standards. Always sung them, always will. I don’t know what’s next.

HW: Who was your most important musical inspiration?
Sting:
Without a shadow of a doubt, it was The Beatles, who are a decade older than me. They were from an industrial town in the north of England, rather like mine. Their education was very similar to mine. They wrote their own songs. They performed their own songs. And they conquered the world. And that gave an entire generation of English people the idea that they could perhaps try it themselves. So I’m one of that generation who were inspired by The Beatles. I know every Beatles song from start to finish.

HW: What’s the current status on your acting career?
Sting:
The last film I made was Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. I played someone’s dad. And I got the job because my wifeproduced it and she needed a cheap actor, so she got me. But I haven’t acted since then.

HW: Are there any other ancient instruments you’re interested to try now that you’ve mastered the lute?
Sting:
Well, my next instrument is the Abyssinian nose flute. I’d really love to…

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HW: The majority of pop stars don’t last five years, let alone three decades, but you have. You’re as relevant today as you were 30 years ago. Why do you think you’ve lasted the test of time?
Sting:
Because I’m still curious. I’m still learning. I’m still learning my craft, and I haven’t stopped that. I think it’s — it’s important to do that, just to keep refining what you do.

HW: Which of your own music do you think will endure the longest?
Sting:
You know, I don’t care. I really don’t. I care more about the planet enduring. But as far as songs, I don’t know. I don’t think about posterity.

HW: Given that you’ve had this passion for the Elizabethan music for nearly two decades, did you worry that one of your pop music peers was going to beat you to a lute album?
Sting:
You haven’t heard Van Halen’s version.

–Reporting by Gerri Miller

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