The Police The story of the Police begins with the Gordon Sumner (Sting); he grew up in a depressing and drab industrial town in Newcastle, London. Sting grew up wanting to leave Newcastle, because he realized that this wasn't the environment for him. This industrial life was bleak and undesirable, and the only way Sting could escape is with his education, talent, and the motivation to leave his hometown behind. Sting's main aspiration as a teenager was to make music, although, he had never received proper guitar lessons. Then, after several years refining his skills on the guitar at a local jazz club, at twenty years old, Sting decided to pursue a professional career in London. In London, Sting immediately meant Stewart Copeland, a drummer, and Andy Summer, a guitarist, who were scouring club scenes for band members. In 1976, Sting, Stewart Copeland, and Andy Summers started their career as the Police. Sting created lyrics that were very literate, and the band's music had a unique sound, due to rhythm and chord work. Stewart Copeland's brother, Miles, who believed in the band, and owned Illegal Records, a small record label, where they recorded a single for him called "Fallout". "Fall Out" sold about 10,000 copies and got them a contract with a major record label, called A & M Records ("Sting"). After their formation, the Police were strongly influenced by reggae and they didn't have any one artist or group that influenced them the most. They were inspired by many bands and forms of music, such as: British punk rock, Jazz, Jamaican reggae, the Beatles, The Sex Pistols, and several more bands ("The Police"). The Police fell under a genre of their own, because of their several influences, but they were commonly categorized as a Reggae, New Wave, post-punk, rock band. From their several influences, the Police grew into a great band, but, the band had a rough start. In 1977, the Police began their first tour of Europe, which left them without money and a record label. Stewart Copeland had to ask his brother Miles to fund their band. Miles not only gave them money to finance their band, but he sold their song "Roxanne" to A & M records. Following their signing with a new record label, their song was released on April 1978 and it received great reviews. Although, the song got little airplay after its release, because mass media didn't feel that a song discussing prostitutes should be heard by Britain. Sting was intrigued by rock mixed with reggae, and wrote several other songs with a texture similar to "Roxanne", but they were also failures. Miles Copeland gave his brother Stewart's band another opportunity, by taking them on a U.S. tour. The Police were given a low budget for the tour, but they preformed 23 shows in 27 days, and received $200 per a night. The Police went back to the UK, and released a new album called Outlandos D'Amour, on November 1978. This album again received little recognition from mass media, so the created another album entitled Regatta De Blanc. The album included a song called, "Regatta De Blanc", which featured their common reggae-rock and Sting's incredible vocals in several choruses. In October 1979, Regatta De Blanc hit number one on the UK charts and number 25 in America. The high point of the Police's career occurred after their success with the album Regatta De Blanc. The Police were now able to release songs from the first album, such as "Roxanne", because of their mass media success. Miles Copeland decided to do something no band had ever done, which was to tour the Eastern Hemisphere and stray from the U.S. market. The Police started their 37-city, and 19-country world tour, which began in Germany and traveled to such places as New York, Hong Kong, India, Egypt, and several more locations. Although, some of the venues they played were hostile, they generated a large following from the media. When they returned home after the tour, they had to start working on a third album