Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland are suing The Police frontman Sting over missing songwriting credits for the hit ‘Every Breath You Take’
Every breath you take, every step you take, every member of The Police wanting writing credits for the music they wrote.
Sting has reportedly been sued by his former Police bandmates over alleged lost royalties from their song ‘Every Breath You Take’. Guitarist Andy Summer and Drummer Stewart Copeland claim they were never credited adequately as songwriters for the hit, nor paid for their contributions to the song.
The suit was filed in the High Court in London, and is said to have been listed under “general commercial contracts and arrangements”. Sting appears as a defendant under his government name, Gordon Matthew Summer, as well as his company, Magnetic Publishing Ltd.
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.”
‘Every Breath You Take’ was released in 1983 on The Police’s fifth and final album, Synchronicity. The track would go on to be the band’s best-selling US single of that year. The band would eventually split up in 1984.
Over the years, the group would have frequent reunion tours, even as recently as 2023. The Police would launch an official TikTok account to mark the 40th anniversary of Synchronicity.
Pinned on the account is a story from Copeland talking about how Sting was unable to write The Police’s biggest hits until Copeland and Summers had joined. Copeland would say, “As soon as Andy joined, Sting was now able to write those songs, because Andy, with his harmonic sophistication, expressed the stuff going on in Sting’s head.”
In 2022, Sting sold his entire songwriting catalogue, including songs from The Police and his solo career, to Universal Music Group for an estimated $300m USD ($4,601,298 AUD).
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