The Police bandmates sue Sting over royalties: reports

Former bandmates are suing The Police frontman Sting over lost royalties allegations.

Andy Summer and Stewart Copeland are suing Sting, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, The Sun was first to report.

Sting earns about £550,000 every year for “Every Breath You Take,” but Copeland and Summer said they didn’t get cowriting credits on it and are paid no royalties, according to The Daily Mail.

In addition to Sting, his firm, Magnetic Publishing Limited, is also named in the lawsuit, People magazine reported.

Sting said he was inspired to write “Every Breath You Take” as he lived in the Jamaican home that had been owned by “James Bond” author Ian Fleming.

“I would sit at his desk at night and try and write songs,” Sting told People in 2023.

“I think if the song has any power at all, it’s ambivalent. It could be sinister or it could be quite warm and sweet and nice, and people have both of those interpretations. And I would never contradict anyone who has a different interpretation of any of my songs because in many ways, that enriches the song,” he explained.

“Maybe the ghost of James Bond is in that song, you know? He’s our guy, but he also kills people,” he added.

The Sun said the lawsuit had been in the works for a while after they tried to reach an out-of-court settlement.

NME said The Police started in 1977 but broke up in the mid-1980s, reuniting several times. “Synchronicity” was the band’s fifth album.

“Every Breath You Take” was the best-selling single of 1983 and was the fifth best-selling single of the 1980s, according to NME.

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