Sting - Hardcover

With plenty of detail for Sting fans of all ages, Sting: Demolition Man traces the rise of young Brit Gordon Sumner to the international pop icon known as Sting. Focusing continually on the man's personal and professional growth, this is no sleazy-tabloid type of biography; instead, his variety of talents, beliefs, and musical styles are shown against the backdrop of his personal life. The transformation from irritable and angry young punk living in a basement to multimillionaire father and activist makes for interesting material when coupled with his dramatic changes in musical style. Equal focus is given to all stages of his adult development--the chart-topping band the Police are presented as just another side trip, albeit an important one, in Sting's career. While there's a lot of minute detail, the presentation is uniformly impersonal: after reading this book, you'll know everything about the man from his favorite hobbies to when he had his nose done, but somehow there's little sense of true motives or guiding inspiration. Old Police fans who've wondered what happened to the bleached-blond, sneering singer since his "growing up" will be relieved to learn there's a bit less self-importance behind his image than we've been led to believe. Author Christopher Sandford includes opinions about individual songs and movie scenes throughout the book (feel free to disagree), and fans wanting complete lists of Sting's accomplishments will find the timeline at the end of the book most helpful. --Jill Lightner

Christopher Sandford has followed, reviewed and written about rock music for 20 years. His biographies of Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Kurt Cobain and David Bowie have won him widespread critical acclaim.