This past May marked the 40th anniversary of the release of the biggest hit by The Police, 1983's "Every Breath You Take," and 40 years of Police guitarist Andy Summers being upset with Sting for not giving him credit as a co-writer.
Summers goes onto say, "Stewart [Copeland] and Sting couldn’t agree on where the drums and bass were gonna sit with the song. And it wasn’t going to make it onto the album... We needed the material, and the famous story is Sting just turned to me and said, ‘Well, go on. Go in there and make it your own.’ And of course, I had all this sort of stuff under my fingers. I was the Police stock-artist guitarist, if you like. And I went in and I got that lick almost, it was like one take. Everyone stood up and cheered.”
And the song has gone onto receive numerous accolades:
- It's the most played song in the history of radio.
- It topped the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for eight weeks, the band's only number-one song.
- It won the Grammy for Song of the Year and Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
- Sting received the 1983 Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.
- And no doubt the main reason why Summers still stews — it's estimated to generate between a quarter and a third of Sting's music publishing income.
Summers is on tour with shows this week in Albany, New York on Wednesday; York, Pennsylvania on Thursday; Vienna, Virginia on Friday; and Patchogue, New York on Saturday.