You don't need airs and graces or arrogance to be a superstar - Sting proves it. He gets his inspiration from the street. In an exclusive interview with event., the Englishman explains how he transforms the energy of New York into music and what he appreciates about Switzerland.
Sting is the nice superstar next door. In New York's "Hell's Kitchen" neighborhood, you can meet him at the traffic lights or chat with him at the sausage stand. Even when he's in Zurich, he can be seen strolling along the lake in a T-shirt and jeans. The son of a milkman and a hairdresser, Sting was born Gordon Sumner in the north-eastern English town of Wallsend almost 66 years ago and initially worked as a bus driver and construction worker. At the end of the seventies, however, he became extremely successful as lead singer, bassist and also as the writer of most of the songs in "The Police". From 1984 onwards, he continued the success story mostly on his own.
Everyone knows Sting's songs, and he has been richly rewarded: 16 Grammys, a star in Hollywood, knighted by the Queen in 2003, a wax figure in numerous cabinets, regularly inducted into illustrious halls of fame.
Sting the do-gooder: successful, scandal-free, charitable for over four decades.
He has sold over 100 million albums. His fortune is estimated at 220 million francs. His two-storey penthouse at 15 Central Park West in New York alone is worth over
56 million francs. When Sting hits the headlines, it's usually because of his many charity commitments, never because of scandals. Together with Trudie Styler, to whom he has been harmoniously married for 25 years, he founded the Rainforest Fund, which campaigns for the preservation of the rainforest. In between, he is also an actor or looks after the wine produced on his estate in Tuscany. That's how he looks - dynamic and active - when I meet him for an interview in his dressing room at Samsung Hall.
Please tell us your secret - how do you write a good song?
Well, whenever I've written a good song, I notice it immediately - there are lots of endorphins buzzing around! Good songs have a narrative structure, a beginning, a middle and an end. It's also good when there's a development in the structure of the music that runs together with the story. It's like writing a short story.
What comes first, the story or the melody?
Sometimes the melody, sometimes the story. Sometimes the melody tells me an abstract story, which is abstract but has a meaning. I then have to concretize it. Sometimes I write the lyrics first and then make the music. Songwriting is telling a story in three to four minutes.
Is songwriting harder or easier for you today than it used to be?
It's getting more difficult, because over the years I've surprisingly become much more self-critical and therefore more insecure. It used to be much easier for me to take risks.
I heard that your new album was created very quickly.
Yes, I recorded it very quickly on purpose. Normally when I record an album, there's no end to it. This tight schedule gave me an energy that I wouldn't otherwise have. I also started it without any preparation. I used to write the songs first and already knew what they sounded like. This time I had nothing. Just time in the studio. It was interesting to conjure up an album from nothing.
Don't make it so difficult for yourself!
To find the creative animal in me, I had to leave my comfort zone. I walked to the studio every day ...
... across the intersection of 57th Street and 9th Avenue - hence the album title "57th and 9th"?
Yes, I walk across that intersection every day. There's a lot of traffic there, so I always have to stop. I don't have bodyguards, I don't have limousines. I just walk. People say hello. New York is a very cool place.
And then you do what? Watch people, meet people?
Yes, that's Hell's Kitchen! It's a very old neighborhood, not very overbuilt. No houses higher than six storeys are allowed to be built there. It's old New York. Human dramas take place there, I hear stories every day, it's stimulating, I love it!
Does that give you the ideas for the songs?
Not directly. But it brought the energy that you can now feel on the album.
But you also live in Tuscany.
Well, I have an estate there with a vineyard. But I haven't been there for five years now. Most of the time I'm the "Englishman in New York".
Wait a minute! As every Sting fan knows, this song isn't about you at all. The "Englishman" is the author Quentin Crisp!
That's true. But since Quentin left us in 1999, I've been the "Englishman in New York".
Today you are an "Englishman in Zurich" - how often have you actually been to Switzerland?
I don't know exactly. In Zurich probably twelve to fifteen times. A very good friend of mine lives in Zurich who, like me, comes from Wallend in north-east England. I visit him often.
How do you like it here?
Zurich is a wonderful city. Today I was just walking along the lake in a T-shirt and jeans and only two or three people recognized me. You can move around freely here, which was nice. But I'm also fascinated by Switzerland in general: my country has just decided to leave the EU - even though I would have liked to stay. In Switzerland, I can see that it's possible to live an insular existence, but still maintain contact with the people and countries around you.
You use your fame to get involved in charity and politics. Do you think that as a star you have a moral obligation to do so?
I certainly do. It's becoming more and more important. When a Donald Trump says that global warming is a hoax - the hoaxer is actually him! We have to do something!
"I wish the politicians now at the helm were smarter." - Sting
Brexit, Trump - do you think this will change the world for the worse?
I wish the politicians at the helm were smarter, had a more pronounced moral sense and greater intellectual curiosity. But they only seem to be interested in power. That's what happens in the USA, in Russia, in Turkey. My political views are liberal and I look to the future. But all these new governments don't care about the future, they are looking back to the Middle Ages.
And what do you think about the changes in the music business?
They are radical. For decades we sold millions of vinyl records, cassettes and CDs - now people download or stream the songs. Well, I still sell albums, but not as many as I used to. But people want to see the shows, so I'm on the road more than ever. But you still don't know exactly how to get the music to the people. Maybe streaming is the solution. But what's in it for the artists is ridiculous.
Is vinyl coming back?
That would be nice, I love vinyl!
"I can't afford to retire now." - Sting
But is playing live hard work or does it also bring fulfillment?
My job is to play songs that I wrote 30 years ago and even earlier. With the same energy, the same curiosity and the same passion as if I had written them today. I always find something that I can change, add a little something extra, a harmony, a different melody. Every evening something unfolds that wasn't there before. I ask the band to do the same. That's how the songs keep evolving. That's the way it should be, because they are alive and they shouldn't be dead works of art.
Do you have a special relationship with any of your songs?
No, they are all my children.
In addition to your songs, you also have six "real" children, two of whom, your son Joe and your daughter Eliot, are also successful musicians. Does that make you proud?
I always encouraged them to become musicians, but I never encouraged them to become famous. Music is a spiritual path, so I always told them to practice and take music seriously. But I never said: "Become stars!"
Is show business bad?
No, but it's not something I would encourage my children to do. But if that's what they want to do, then let them do it.
You are now 65 - at retirement age. How much longer will you be touring?
I can't afford to retire now.
I don't believe you!
Yes, you can. Too many dependencies. My crew. My band - they have to pay their mortgages.
You're touring non-stop now. Do you think about new songs in between?
No, I only ever think about the show in the evening. The tour lasts until about Christmas, only then will I start thinking about new songs again.
Are you a workaholic?
Not a workaholic, but a worker - a laborer. Work makes me happy.
