Talk:Sting (musician)/Archive 2

Wikipedia articles are not references
That says it all, I guess. Wikipedia articles are not references. I removed two references to articles on en.wikipedia. --Leahtwosaints (talk) 18:33, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Leaving Las Vegas soundtrack, anyone?
I am not the one to write it, as I am sure someone else would be more skilled, but it should be added that Sting participated on the Leaving Las Vegas soundtrack. Not sure if he wrote anything, but he at least sang. Beautiful songs, too

Cheers, Eric Weeks —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.22.31.204 (talk) 12:56, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

X Factor
That part about the X Factor is interesting alright, but it just seems like the lastest bit of news, not part of an article. Just my opinion though... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.145.109.226 (talk) 00:33, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

Legal fight over sting.com
Should mention he tried to force the site name away from its owner but lost. A disgraceful attempt in my view. I believe he later bought it?

http://www.cptech.org/ecom/icann/domaindisputes/domaindisputes.html#sting.com Ykral (talk) 11:59, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

Criticism and Controversy Section
I am curious what everyone thinks of this section. One concert in Central Asia (albeit controversial today) seems to have way too much emphasis placed upon it relative to the other life accomplishments of Sting. It is not as though Sting went over there and started torturing people, he played his music, played the part and was paid handsomely for it. Big deal...Who really cares? Will we really think about this 5 years from now, 10, 20? I suggest including it within the activism in section and then changing it the title to Activism and Criticism (or something like that) to mollify Amnesty First crowd. Thoughts? --Ian Struan (talk) 05:41, 11 April 2010 (UTC)
 * The whole section seems like undue weight to me. We've written what, 3 paragraphs on individual times he was criticized for something? I think we should remove that section. --Spike Wilbury (talk) 15:19, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
 * I could not agree more. --Ian Struan (talk) 04:11, 2 May 2010 (UTC)
 * I disagree, the event is significant given Stings self-stated commitment to human rights causes. It will almost certainly form part of Sting's history and will be remembered well in 5 years. I've bulked out the single line which was not weighted sufficiently and in danger of airbrushing over the event in my opinion. It's certainly more notable than the proceeding paragraph: 'On June 2, 2010 Sting began his Symphonicity tour of North America and Europe. The tour features many of Sting's songs performed with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra'.

Not vegetarian
If Sting isn't a vegetarian, he shouldn't be in the English Vegetarians category. I'm removing him from it. --N-k (talk) 05:48, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Doesn't sound Encyclopaedic..
" Dire Straits (he was given co-writer status and receives royalties based on his somewhat minor performance, supposedly because he reused his melody from The Police hit "Don't Stand So Close to Me" for his vocal parts. "

I think this needs a quote or rewrite. It doesn't sound factual. A chorus and entry doesn't sound that minor to me? Either he did or didn't reuse the melody from the police hit... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.0.4.150 (talk) 15:18, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Missing Albums
The Bring on the Night double album from 1986 should be added to the discography. Slurslee (talk) 02:30, 30 June 2010 (UTC)
 * When an artist's complete discography is large enough to merit its own page, the discography on the artist's page tends to only have the studio albums. GoingBatty (talk) 02:43, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

Tantric
Should there be an explanation of why so many people (for example, Barenaked Ladies in their song "One Week") have told Tantric-themed jokes about Sting? I'm not sure what the connection between the two is, but there seems to be one. Stonemason89 (talk) 16:33, 15 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Seems like a joke that has become part of the pop cultre mindset. He has discussed it in several other interviews including The Guardian.  Not sure it's encyclopedic.  GoingBatty (talk) 01:13, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Disputed: Acting career entry
The third entry appears to be totally out of context. It doesn't follow the chronological order of the list, I've no idea what it might mean (and I'm sure most people wouldn't, either), and it links to "Circa 2005", which makes little sense. Should it be removed? (It's probably vandalism: check history on date 3 December 2005)
 * Fixed.

Sting was also in the Sexpistols movie, The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle Release date(s) 15 May 1980 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.223.178.2 (talk) 14:47, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Symphonicities Tour
Can someone please make a tour page for Sting's Symphonicities Tour?? franticflare14 (talk) 02:43, 10 October 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.202.238.82 (talk)
 * If so, be sure to call it "Symphonicity Tour" - the tour name is singular but the album name is plural. Do pages exist for Sting's other solo tours?  If so, they should be added to Sting.  If not, maybe just adding a tour section to Symphonicities would be sufficient? GoingBatty (talk) 02:54, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Yeah I think its a great idea, it should happen franticflare14 (talk) 02:43, 10 October 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.141.141.211 (talk) Yo I just made one on his Symhponicities page. franticflare14 (talk) 02:43, 10 October 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.141.141.211 (talk)

The section Views and Advocacy
Hi. This section needs some work. For starters, there is nothing about advocacy in it - and there is a whole long section on Activism above. There someond just popped in the bit about being an ambassador for the 2018 bid. --Rui &#39;&#39;Gabriel&#39;&#39; Correia (talk) 20:35, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

Question about Sting
Can anyone tell me the name of the album that Sting made which contained Reggae music on it. He spent some time in Jamacia and really liked the music and he made a couple songs with someone and I want the songs and they are on an album where you have to buy the whole album. Hope some reads this and can help.

Shane —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.103.178.67 (talk) 04:20, 28 January 2011 (UTC)
 * All of The Police albums? GoingBatty (talk) 04:38, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Criticism section needed?
The hypocrite is being paid a lot to perform for the Kazakh dictator this year, and performed for the Uzbekh one two years ago. For balance this should be mentioned in our pro-Sting 'activism' section, shouldn't it? Malick78 (talk) 16:19, 3 June 2011 (UTC)

Acting vs interviews
I would like to propose that we add a distinction in the "Acting" section between the portrayal of fictional characters and interviews for documentaries. Any objections? GoingBatty (talk) 17:24, 20 September 2011 (UTC)

Real Name
If Sting's real name is "Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner" and not just "Gordon Matthew Sumner", that's fine, but would someone just please provide a reference? Surely there must be a passage in his book Broken Music stating his birth name, for example.Tinman44 (talk) 20:55, 9 December 2011 (UTC)


 * Sorry that you didn't get a timely reply. Whether or not an artist chooses to reveal their birth name in a book, anyone is free to correct facts reported in Wikipedia. Of course, corrections must have citations to reliable sources. David Spector (talk) 13:58, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Bring on the Night
In this edit, a sentence was added to the "Early life" section concerning the 1985 documentary Bring on the Night. This has a reference from amazon.com, but I don't see any mention of this anecdote on the amazon.com page. Does this quote need a more specific reference, or is the link to the Bring on the Night article sufficient? Thanks! GoingBatty (talk) 17:49, 16 January 2012 (UTC)
 * The Amazon.com page sells the movie, the rest is covered in WP:FILMPLOT. Check the latest version, I hope everyone finds it satisfactory. Hearfourmewesique (talk) 04:41, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Opening line and order of stage/birth names?
When it comes to celebrities who use well-known stage names, I thought the normal format for Wikipedia was "[Stage name] (born [birth name] [DOB])". So in this example, it would be "Sting (born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, October 2, 1951)". I tried changing it once, but it has since gotten reverted back to "Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner[1] CBE (born October 2, 1951), known by his stage name Sting". Looking around Wikipedia, I'm seen it written different ways for different celebrities. Does anybody know if there's a formal Wikipedia policy/guideline for this? WillieBlues (talk) 01:13, 3 June 2012 (UTC)

I think I remember reading that Sting acknowledged having used drugs, and said that, from his personal experience, they were to be avoided. Any reference? David.Monniaux 3 July 2005 17:16 (UTC)


 * Well. In his memoir Broken Music (an excellent book in its own right) Sting describes taking ayahuasca as part of a religious ritual in the Brazilian rainforest shortly after his parents' deaths. From this account, it is clear that Sting valued this experience highly in helping him come to terms with his bereavement, and he said that it was the closest he came to a "genuine religious experience". As for recreational drugs, he says in the memoir that he only ever had a "passing, superficial interest" in them. RMoloney 5 July 2005 20:26 (UTC)

Requested move

 * The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the move request was: not moved: insufficient support. DrKiernan (talk) 16:29, 16 October 2012 (UTC)

Sting (musician) → Sting – He has to be WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. He's one of the most famous and successful musicians in history and certainly more notable than almost everything else (apart from stinger, but that would be the primary topic in a dictionary, and this is an encyclopaedia). Unreal7 (talk) 08:56, 4 October 2012 (UTC)

Survey

 * Oppose. Stinger (usually called a "sting" in British English) is the primary topic here, whether in a dictionary or an encyclopaedia. This is a WP:ENGVAR issue, as the article is actually under the American name, but the British name needs to take equal precedence in the disambiguation page. I frankly do not believe that people searching for or linking "sting" are more likely to be looking for the musician. -- Necrothesp (talk) 15:44, 4 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Oppose. No doubt Sting is a great musician, but this is an encyclopædia so it covers a lot of other stuff too; a move request framed in terms of musical achievement isn't really going to help. I think he falls short of WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bobrayner (talk • contribs) 00:17, 6 October 2012‎ (UTC)
 * Oppose per Unreal 7 & Bobrayner. Rothorpe (talk) 00:44, 6 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Could you give an actual reason? Opposing per nominator is difficult to understand. -- JHunterJ (talk) 13:00, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Singer is not the primary topic. Rothorpe (talk) 14:00, 16 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Comment - In all of these discussions, it would be great to know where people go from the disambiguation page. GoingBatty (talk) 01:03, 6 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Oppose clearly not the primary topic. The police operation would be more primary than this person, and even then, it would not be primary over the action of a stinger (such as by an insect or a jellyfish) -- 70.24.247.121 (talk) 22:48, 6 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Support. If you google, the top six results are for the musician. Nothing about bees comes up, so I find unlikely that any large number of readers are typing in "sting" in order to learn more about bee stingers. Sting (musician) has been viewed 310,633 times in the last 90 days, stinger 22,331. So even if you accept the sting-equals-stinger argument, the musician is still primary. Kauffner (talk) 08:25, 7 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Support per stats given and criteria of WP:PRIMARYTOPIC. -- JHunterJ (talk) 19:18, 7 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Support sting would be at "Bee sting" or "Insect sting", and a police sting would be at "Police sting". Both need a clarifying word. The musician does not. The former is actually at Stinger, the latter at Sting operation. Apteva (talk) 02:50, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
 * See The Edge as another example. Unreal7 (talk) 20:44, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Support. It does seem that the person has to be the primary reason for searching for "Sting". Tinman44 (talk) 15:16, 11 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Oppose per long-term significance and WP:PRIMARYUSAGE. Clearly the musician does not have substantially greater enduring notability and educational value than any other topic associated with [the] term. -- Trevj (talk) 13:51, 16 October 2012 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Sabotage
Sting is not only a musician. He is a notorious sabotage agent working to slowdown brazilian progress by promoting internal ethnic rebellions. This article should talk some about this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 189.74.163.36 (talk) 06:16, 21 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Do you have any reliable sources that could support this claim? Thanks!  GoingBatty (talk) 14:04, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

the other guy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Urvan — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.84.95.229 (talk) 11:04, 24 December 2012 (UTC)
 * Are you suggesting that the domain name dispute is notable enough to be included in the Sting (musician) article? GoingBatty (talk) 04:12, 26 December 2012 (UTC)
 * yes, i think it is. same for madonna, another common english word.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.84.95.229 (talk) 20:38, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

Sting's religious beliefs
I remember a previous version of the article correctly stating that Sting is agnostic. It has now been changed to state he practices Buddhism, citing The Daily Mail, an unreliable tabloid, as its source.

He proclaimed his agnosticism in a 2011 interview with Time.

Please remember to use reliable sources for these types of things, as we could be getting into BLP issues here. CtP (t • c) 02:58, 8 June 2013 (UTC)

Sting's religion
At the end of "Personal life" section there is a quote from Sting's interview with Time magazine in 2011: "I'm essentially agnostic. I don't have a problem with God. I have a problem with religion. I've chosen to live my life without the certainties of religious faith. I think they're dangerous. Music is something that gives my life value and spiritual solace." But if Sting has become a Roman Catholic (since 2011), that information should be included in that section, with reliable sources (WP:VERIFY). Here, not on Portuguese Wikipedia. I don't know Portuguese, so I'm not able to verify information included there. You shouldn't change an important information like that, without making appropriate changes in the article itself, or without any discussion with other Contributors here, on the article's talk page. —  Ma y ast  ( talk ) 19:56, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

the fight about sting.com
the domain name being was used by an internet game player. musician sting wanted it so he decided to sue the guy, but lost. it appears musician sting then paid off the original owner to get the name.

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/07/28/business/technology-briefing-internet-sting-loses-on-domain-name.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.130.168.139 (talk) 05:20, 4 October 2013 (UTC)

soul cages collaboration
i don't know if in the international version what i say is true, but in the european market and in italian market the "soul cages" album contained "Mad about you" completely sung in italian and renamed as "Io muoio per te"; the lyrics were written by Zucchero (Sugar) Fornaciari italian singer-composer.
 * Muslt be limited to Italian market. Never heard of it until now. Nahum (talk) 02:37, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

Big band album?
The 1980s section mentions an album from "1987 with jazz arranger Gil Evans, who placed Sting in a big band setting for a live album of Sting's songs (the CD was not released in the U.S.)". What is this album? It doesn't seem to be on the Sting discography article. Thanks! GoingBatty (talk) 05:10, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

Nothing like the Sun. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 40.132.64.33 (talk) 20:51, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

The Living sea
He also did the soundtrack to the iMax film, The Living sea (in 1995)...not sure why that isnt included with Into the Deep

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Living_Sea:_Soundtrack_from_the_IMAX_Film

typo
Just noticed a typo in the sentence "naturally occurrence" which should be natural occurance, or naturally occuring.

Image Issues
Why does the image have a large white blob on the left?
 * I second, wtf is up with that?

Last Trivia fact?
This "Fact" reads: "In 2001 Sting performed in Amman, Jordan where he brought 5,000 fans to their feet for the duration of the two-hour show. They rarely missed a lyric in an unspoken sing-along as the singer-songwriter belted out smash hit after smash hit." It doesn't seem much like anything, aside from being definately biased. Should it be removed? --Shadic 20:07, 29 October 2006.

Instruments
I think that some more instruments should be mentioned that Sting seems to play. During the Nothing Like The Sun Tour, he played a synclavier, whatever that is, maybe kinda keyboard thing. Would be better to mention a keyboard or a piano - on a VHS called "Storytellers" from 1996 he is performing half of "King Of Pain" with the piano, saying that this song was written on the piano... you see him playing the piano in the Bring On The Night movie, too. He began to play the cello some years ago but he din't really perform with this one yet. Somebody said he is quite a good clarinet player, too... (?) Er ... perhaps someone could add some of these instruments; please don't forget the double bass. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.179.167.68 (talk) 19:28, January 22, 2007

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Semi-protected edit request on 5 September 2016
There is a broken link pointing to the Northumbria University website from this anchor text phrase ""Famous Alumni" . Northumbria University . Archived from" that's meant to be pointing to this page (https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/browse/naa/famous/) that doesn't exist anymore. I wondered whether it would be possible to change to point their homepage address instead https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/?

If you could sent confirmation to this email address Stephen.kellie@mediaworks.co.uk, that would be appreciated

Stephenkellmed (talk) 12:43, 5 September 2016 (UTC)


 * - the archived link appears to be working and holds the relevant information. The home address does not, making the reference pointless. Karst (talk) 12:53, 5 September 2016 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 10 November 2016
In 2009, at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th anniversary show, Sting performed with Stevie Wonder, which was noted, but also played with Jeff Beck. I would propose amending that line to include that as follows:

In 2009, Sting appeared at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 25th anniversary concert, playing "Higher Ground" and "Roxanne" with Stevie Wonder and "People Get Ready" with Jeff Beck. 64.206.84.100 (talk) 22:37, 10 November 2016 (UTC)


 * Done. Karst (talk) 23:41, 10 November 2016 (UTC)

Discography
Seems to be missing "Sting at the Movies". — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.156.113.143 (talk) 16:41, 11 November 2016 (UTC)

Bataclan re-opening.
Those setlist.fm and Twitter references need to be replaced. I'm not sure if listing the fact that he played new songs at the concert is appropriate. His statement needs to be included, as does that the fact that he asked for a minute silence, which was followed by "Fragile". And that he played the last encore with an empty chair. I'm sure that a number of reviews will appear today. Karst (talk) 07:58, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Instruments
The instruments section under the info box describes Sting using an Ibanez Musician bass. I do not think he's ever used that bass. I would like to know if I can remove that. Additionally, this section would also warrant the addition of a Fender Stratocaster since Sting has indeed used this guitar. The most famous example of this is the Walking on the Moon video. I think the addition of this is needed under the 'Instruments' section below the Infobox. VP101 (talk) 19:43, 29 December 2016 (UTC)

Criticism
Sting has received considerable personal criticism over the years. This may or may not have been justified, but the article should mention it. It reads a bit too much like a fan or PR page at present. --Ef80 (talk) 14:30, 2 January 2017 (UTC)

Purchasing the film rights to "Gormenghast"
Under the heading "Personal life", the eighth paragraph states "In 1969, Sting read the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake and bought the film rights." That's rather awkward and misleading as it suggests that he bought the film rights in 1969, at the age of about 18, while a student. Obviously this is incorrect, but the citation provided does not actually say when he purchased the film rights. In lieu of anyone providing the actual year it transpired, I propose it be changed to something along the lines of "In 1969, Sting read the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake, for which he later bought the film rights." Bricology (talk) 18:42, 13 September 2017 (UTC)

Phoenix Jazzmen
Sting played with a group called the Phoenix Jazzmen and used to wear a yellow and black striped sweater while playing with them. This could be mentioned in the article, as could the fact that he played with Last Exit and the Newcastle Big Band. Vorbee (talk) 15:35, 25 October 2017 (UTC)

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One World (Not Free)
Sting strikes me as an excellent example of a neo Tavistock Institute operative. Anybody got anything on that? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2405:6582:8580:C00:402E:2DE9:87C1:3671 (talk) 03:43, 27 June 2018 (UTC)


 * Does the Tavistock Institute specialise or treat Throat Cancer? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.190.207.108 (talk) 19:40, 10 August 2019 (UTC)


 * That seems to be merely a feeling or a suspicion by you, so it is not qualified for mention in the article.  If you have reliable and verifiable sources, they might only make the claim better suited for a home in the article List_of_conspiracy_theories.  If, on the other hand, you want to initiate a discussion about the probability of it being possibly true, this talk page is probably not the place for it at this point.Twistlethrop (talk) 10:35, 22 September 2018 (UTC)

Instruments
Sting learned and played saxophone on "Ghost in the Machine". Which I added into the "instruments panel". Someone removed it.

If Wiki is allowed to cite itself ..

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_in_the_Machine_(album)

Sting – bass guitar, lead and backing vocals, double bass, keyboards, saxophone — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.236.234.99 (talk) 10:18, 9 June 2020 (UTC)