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Sting’s former Police bandmates are suing the frontman for millions of pounds in missing royalties.
The singer, 73, was handed a High Court writ by the group’s guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland.
The ‘substantial’ damages claim comes after many years of bitter legal disputes.
A source told The Sun: ‘This has been coming for quite some time. Lawyers tried repeatedly to reach an out-of-court settlement but hit a stalemate.
‘Andy and Stewart decided there was no alternative than court so pressed the button. They say they are owed millions in lost royalties.’
London‘s High Court lists the legal case under ‘general commercial contracts and arrangements’.
Sting is down as a defendant under his real name, Gordon Matthew Sumner, while his company Magnetic Publishing Limited is also listed as a defendant.
The star is believed to earn £550,000 a year in royalties from smash hit Every Breath You Take alone, the fifth best-selling song of the ’80s.
Sting’s former Police bandmates are suing the frontman, pictured in 2019, for millions of pounds in missing royalties
Bandmates Summers and Copeland, however, were not handed songwriting credits on the single.
New wave band The Police were formed in London in 1977 and shot to stardom with their second album Reggatta De Blanc, the first of four albums on the spin to reach the top of the charts.
They bagged five UK number one singles and achieved a number one in the US with Every Breath You Take.
Their last tour ended in 1984, but there was no farewell to each other or to their fans.
Copeland founded the band in 1977, joining up with Sting when he saw his charisma with the jazz fusion band Last Exit. They then approached agile rock guitarist Summers.
But immediately there was understood to be a three-way power struggle. Sting said previously: ‘We didn’t go to school together or grow up in the same neighbourhood. We were never a tribe.
‘We care passionately about the music and we’re all strong characters and nobody would be pushed around. We fought over everything.’
The singer, pictured left in 1983, was handed a High Court writ by the group’s guitarist Andy Summers, right, and drummer Stewart Copeland, centre
The band unravelled and dissolved in resentment and anger and Sting went on to become a solo artist.
After threatening to break up every other week, their personal gripes were by no means kept behind closed doors. The band members went public with their problems with back-handed jokes in the studio and even during interviews.
The recording of Synchronicity – their fifth and final studio album – was fractious, with in-fighting leading to them recording parts in different rooms.
However, The Police surprisingly returned with a Reunion Tour taking place between 2007 and 2008, and over its 151 dates saw the band travel the world from Europe to South America.
The Reunion saw the band earn a reported £292million, with guitarist Summers telling The Telegraph in 2022 he earned $1million a night.
‘The 2007 Reunion Tour was a giant pay-off for all of us and quite incredible: the most money I’ve ever made,’ he said. ‘We sold out every stadium in the world.
‘And I hate to say it – well no, I don’t hate to say it – I think I was the highest-paid guitarist in the world during that Reunion Tour.’
The Daily Mail has approached Sting, Summers and Copeland for comment.
