The Police were an English rock band formed in London in The Police became globally popular from the late s to the mids. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk , reggae , and jazz.
Their debut album, Outlandos d'Amour , reached No. Their second album, Reggatta de Blanc , became the first of four consecutive No. Their final studio album, Synchronicity , was No. During this time, the band were considered one of the leaders of the Second British Invasion of the US: in 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".
They were the world's highest-earning musicians in due to their reunion tour, which was the highest-grossing tour of The Police have sold over 75 million records, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. In , they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. On 25 September , [ 12 ] while on tour with the British progressive rock band Curved Air in Newcastle upon Tyne , in the northeast of England, the band's American drummer, Stewart Copeland , met and exchanged phone numbers with singer-bassist Gordon Sumner, a.
Sting , [ 13 ] who at the time was playing in a jazz-rock fusion band called Last Exit. Curved Air had recently split up and Copeland, inspired by the contemporary punk rock movement , was eager to form a new band to join the burgeoning London punk scene. While less keen, Sting acknowledged the commercial opportunities, so they formed the Police as a trio, with Corsican guitarist Henry Padovani recruited as the third member.
Mick Jagger reviewed the single in Sounds magazine. The band's fourth member was guitarist Andy Summers. A decade older than Sting and Copeland, Summers was a music industry veteran who had played with Eric Burdon and the Animals and Kevin Ayers among others. Strontium 90 performed at a Gong reunion concert in Paris on 28 May , and played at a London club under the name of "the Elevators" in July.
