More than forty years after its separation, the group “The Police” is still in conflict. This August 24, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland decided to sue the singer Sting for millions of sterling books of lost royalties.
Almost everything goes over time. Forty years after the group’s separation, the members of “The Police” still have it after Sting. This Sunday, August 24, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, respectively guitarist and drummer of “The Police”, decided to attack the group leader in court. The complaint was filed in front of the London High Court against the British singer Sting, of his real name Gordon Matthew Sumner, as well as his company Magnetic Publishing Limited.
According to information from “The Sun”, the two musicians accuse Sting of having “unduly perceived” income related to the group’s compositions, without a fair redistribution of royalties. The conflict would in particular concern one of the greatest successes of the trio, “Every Breath You Take”, released in 1983.
Still according to the British tabloid, Sting would affect around 550,000 pounds sterling per year thanks to this title, CUndrare to Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland who would never have received the slightest payment, for lack of being credited as co-authors. The Sting spokesman reacted by saying that the complaint did not concern this song, without providing more details.
Years of behind the scenes
This legal action does not happen by chance. It would be the culmination of long years of financial disputes and attempted settlement. “” Lawyers have tried several times to reach an amicable agreement, but they ended up in a dead end “Confides a source to” The Sun “. If justice was right to his two former friends, the 73 -year -old singer could lose big, since the sums claimed would relate to several decades.
The ex-members of the group “The Police” at the Group’s After show at VIP Room, in Paris, September 29, 2007.
© Bestimage
Star of the 80s, the group “The Police”, formed in 1977, won on the international scene as one of the largest rock groups of the time. But success was quickly overshadowed by growing tensions within the group. Tensions that Andy Summers had already discussed in 2023 in an interview with the “Guardian”, recognizing that the pressure of world success and artistic disagreements had made cohabitation impossible. The group will then end up separating in the mid -1980s.