Sting is facing legal action from his former Police bandmates, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland, who allege they were never properly credited or paid for their contributions to the band’s biggest hit, Every Breath You Take.
The lawsuit, filed in London’s High Court, claims Summers and Copeland were excluded from songwriting credits on the 1983 single, which went on to become the best-selling U.S. track of that year and one of the most successful songs of the decade. Sting is named in the case under his legal name, Gordon Matthew Sumner, along with his company, Magnetic Publishing Ltd.
A spokesperson for Sting, 73, denied that the case is related to Every Breath You Take but offered no further details.
The Police, formed in 1977, achieved international success with hits including Roxanne, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, and Don’t Stand So Close to Me, before disbanding in 1984. The band reunited for tours and anniversary events in later decades, though Sting has said he preferred solo work, citing the «total freedom» it provided.
The disputed song has had a long legacy, including being famously sampled in Puff Daddy’s 1997 chart-topper I’ll Be Missing You. Sting later sold his full songwriting catalogue to Universal Music in 2022 for an estimated $300 mln, joining a wave of major artists cashing in on their publishing rights.
Kursiv Uzbekistan also reports that Bruce Willis’s wife Emma Heming Willis has said she made the «hardest decision» to move the actor out of their family home as his dementia progresses.
