Sting (born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner; 2 October 1951) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, activist, actor. and philanthropist. He was principal songwriter, lead singer, and bassist for the new wave rock band The Police from 1977 to 1983, before launching a solo career. He has included rock, jazz, reggae, classical, new-age, and worldbeat in his music. As a solo musician and a member of The Police, he received 16 Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards, a Golden Globe award, an Emmy Award, and three Academy Award nominations for Best Original Song. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Police in 2003. Solo and with The Police, he sold 100 million records. (More from Wikipedia)
Opposition to the unfair imprisonment of two women in Pussy Riot became a cause célèbre of many Western celebrities plus musicians from every genre imaginable: Bryan Adams, Beastie Boys, the Black Keys, John Cale, Peter Gabriel, Green Day, Nina Hagen, Kathleen Hanna, Paul McCartney, Moby, Yoko Ono, Pet Shop Boys, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Patti Smith, Sting, Pete Townshend, etc. Pussy Riot was featured on 60 Minutes as well.
For their part, the bandmembers in Pussy Riot that were not in prison distanced themselves from all of this attention and were quoted as saying: “We’re flattered, of course, that Madonna and Björk have offered to perform with us. But the only performances we’ll participate in are illegal ones. We refuse to perform as part of the capitalist system, at concerts where they sell tickets.”
(December 2013)
