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The ex-Police and solo superstar pulls back the curtain
on the inspiration behind some of his beloved classics.

By Rachel DeSantis in People

e's made his name performing on the world's biggest stages, but Sting is no carpool karaoke singer. "You think I sing in a car?" he says, bemused over a recent Zoom call. Well, doesn't everyone? " No. I sing onstage," says the rocker, 71. "I don't even sing in the shower. I've got to save my voice."

Fair enough. That voice has helped Sting sell more than 100 million albums as a member of the new wave group the Police and as a solo artist. Still, the British star (born Gordon Sumner) considers himself a songwriter first and foremost. On May 18 he was recognized for his skills as a scribe when he became a fellow of the Ivors Academy, a prestigious music writers' association. at a London ceremony. "If you ask me my profession, I would say I'm a songwriter," he says, "so to receive this honor is very special."

Sting's prolific catalog -- filled with everything from reggae-tinged sing-alongs to ethereal, hymn-like odes -- has long provided a soundtrack to life's highs and lows, both for fans and for his own life with wife Trudie Styler, 69, and kids Joe, 46, Fuschia, 41, Mickey, 39, Jake, 38, Eliot, 32, and Giacomo, 27. (Joe and Eliot are also musicians.) "I get people coming up to me and saying, 'Oh, I got married to your song,' or 'We buried Uncle Charlie to your song,' or 'I fell out of love to this...,'" he says. "People mark their lives with the songs of their era, as do I." Here, Sting shares the stories behind some of his biggest hits.

'ALL THIS TIME'

It's actually about my hometown [Wallsend, northeast England], which is on the River Tyne. And really it was about the demise of my father and the shipyard that was next door to my house. Songwriting is my self-therapy, having to deal with issues that aren't comfortable -- mortality being one of them. I think a song is an empathy machine where people can resonate with the emotion you are expressing, or you can step into someone else's shoes and sing about their life or see the world through their eyes.

'ROXANNE'

We were touring in Europe, playing half-empty clubs, making no money at all and staying in the cheapest hotels we could find. The tour ended rather grandly in Paris, and we're staying behind the railway station, the Gare Saint-Lazare, in an alleyway. And the reason the hotel was so cheap is that we had to share it with ladies of the night. I'd had a pretty sheltered life up until that point, and I was kind of fascinated by the commerce. It was intriguing to me. So I watched this for a while, and then I noticed a poster on the wall of a play called "Cyrano de Bergerac." He was a 17th-century poet, a great wit, a swordsman, with an enormous nose. And the love of his life was called Roxanne.

So those two conflicting ideas -- of this beautiful name and this very, very elegant, courtly romance and what was going on in the hotel -- just lit a torch under me. I went to my room, picked up the guitar and imagined this woman into life. And of course she changed my life beyond all recognition, because that song is the one that lifted us out of obscurity and into the light.

'EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE'

I wrote that song in Jamaica at a place called GoldenEye. The house was formerly owned by Ian Fleming, who wrote the James Bond series, and I would sit at his desk at night and try and write songs. I think if the song has any power at all, it's ambivalent. It could be sinister, or it could be quite warm and sweet and nice, and people have both of those interpretations. And I would never contradict anyone who has a different interpretation of any of my songs, because in many ways, that enriches the song. So I'll never say, "Oh, that's wrong. No this is what's its really about...." Whatever your interpretation is is perfectly valid. But maybe the ghost of James Bond is in that song, you know? He's our guy, but he also kills people. There's this duality that I think is in the song, and I think that's why it's so successful. Some people get married to that song, so I'm not going to contradict people.

'DE DO DO DO, DE DA DA DA'

I get a lot of flak for that song, like "How could Sting be writing this nonsense?" when I was actually writing about that very thing. All of these songs, like "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Do Wah Diddy Diddy," they're nonsense songs. I was asking in the song why these are powerful, why these have a valency. But of course, the disingenuous among the critics said, "This is just rubbish." That was the point!

'FIELDS OF GOLD'

That was inspired by barley crops near my childhood home. I think about Trudie and the kids when they were younger when I sing that song.  

"I'm not retiring," says Stewart. "I love what I do."

By Brianne Tracy in People

egendary British musician Rod Stewart, 78, is preparing for big life changes. After his current world tour and his Las Vegas residency come to an end in November, Stewart -- who recently launched his own whisky, Wolfie's -- will pivot away from rock and roll and dive into swing. Here, he talks about the career shift and letting go of his L.A. home.

Will this be your last big tour?

I think so. It's bittersweet, but I'm not taking my songs to the cemetery and burying them. I basically would like to put them to rest for a little while. There's only so many years I want to keep singing "Hot Legs" and "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"

I imagine life on the road can be tiring.

It's not, really, The thing critics keep saying is, "Oh, he's gone off the stage to have a rest." No, I haven't! I've gone off the stage because I'm wringing wet. I'm so bloody fit, you wouldn't believe it.

How do you keep in shape?

I do 45 minutes of cardio, four days a week. I'll also do underwater training where you push a big rubber brick the length of a pool.

Your L.A. home is for sale. Do you plan to remain in England?

Yeah, but let me get one thing straight. I've been quoted saying L.A. is toxic. It's not toxic -- though sometimes the air's a bit dirty. I've had some of my best years in L.A., and I won't take a penny under what I've asked for my house, because I basically don't want to sell it.

What makes you happiest?

I've got eight children and three grandchildren, so seeing them grow up. I love what I do for a living, and I love my wife [model Penny Lancaster]. I am truly blessed. That's all I can say.  

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