Sting

Sting married actress Frances Tomelty on 1 May 1976. Before they divorced in 1984, they had two children: Joseph (born 23 November 1976) and Fuchsia Katherine (“Kate”, born 17 April 1982). In 1980, Sting became a tax exile in Galway in Ireland. In 1982, after the birth of his second child, he separated from Tomelty and began living with actress and film producer Trudie Styler. The couple married at Camden Registry Office on 20 August 1992, and had their wedding blessed two days later in the twelfth-century parish church of St Andrew in Great Durnford, Wiltshire, south-west England. Sting and Styler have four children: Brigitte Michael (“Mickey”, born 19 January 1984), Jake (24 May 1985), Eliot Pauline (nicknamed “Coco”, 30 July 1990), and Giacomo Luke (17 December 1995). Coco is a singer who now goes by the name Eliot Sumner, and was the founder and lead singer of the group I Blame Coco. Giacomo Luke is the inspiration behind the name of Kentucky Derby–winning horse Giacomo.

In April 2009, the Sunday Times Rich List estimated Sting’s wealth at £175 million (US$265 million) and ranked him the 322nd wealthiest person in Britain. A decade later, Sting was estimated to have a fortune of £320 million in the 2019 Sunday Times Rich List, making him one of the 10 wealthiest people in the British music industry.

Both of Sting’s parents died of cancer: his mother in 1986 and his father in 1987. He did not attend either parent’s funeral, in order not to bring media attention to them.

In 1995, Sting gave evidence in court against his former accountant (Keith Moore), who had misappropriated £6m (US$7.6m) of his money. Moore was jailed for six years. Sting owns several homes worldwide, including Lake House and its sixty-acre estate near Salisbury, Wiltshire; a cottage in the Lake District, north-west England; a New York City flat (which was once owned by Billy Joel); a beach house in Malibu; the Villa Il Palagio estate in Rignano sull’Arno, Tuscany; and two homes in London.

Sting ran five miles (8 km) a day and performed aerobics. He participated in running races at Parliament Hill and charity runs. Around 1990, Danny Paradise introduced him to yoga, and he began practising Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga series, though he now practises Tantra and Jivamukti Yoga as well. He wrote a foreword to Yoga Beyond Belief, written by Ganga White in 2007. In 2008, he was reported to practise Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s Transcendental Meditation technique.

Sting’s affinity with yoga contributed to a rumour about his sexual prowess, including a purported eight hours of sex with Styler. The story stems from an interview with Sting and Bob Geldof. A journalist asked “how do you perform in bed?” and Geldof remarked that he was a “three-minute man” but Sting could last for hours thanks to yoga.

Sting played chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov in an exhibition game in 2000, along with four bandmates: Dominic Miller, Jason Rebello, Chris Botti and Russ Irwin. Kasparov beat all five simultaneously within fifty minutes.

In 1969, Sting read the Gormenghast trilogy by Mervyn Peake and later bought the film rights. He named pets, a racehorse, his publishing company, and one of his daughters (Fuchsia) after characters from the books.

Sting supports his hometown Premier League football club Newcastle United, and in 2009 backed a supporters’ campaign against the plan of owner Mike Ashley to sell off naming rights of the club’s home stadium St James’ Park. He wrote a song in support of Newcastle, called “Black and White Army (Bringing The Pride Back Home)”.

In a 2011 interview in Time, Sting said that he was agnostic and that the certainties of religious faith were dangerous.

In August 2013, Sting donated money to The Friends of Tynemouth Outdoor Pool to regenerate the 1920s lido at the southern end of Longsands Beach in Tynemouth, northeast England, a few miles from where he was born.