In a recent interview with Ultimate Classic Rock, The Police guitarist Andy Summers talked about the band’s final days and their last album ‘Synchronicity.’ The guitarist mentioned Sting’s desire to leave the band after their contract was done. He explained:
“It was a tough album, period. I mean, we had been together five years and were massively successful. Sting was obviously feeling his oats and wanted to leave the band and go out on his own. In a sort of anal way, he was ready to finish off the contract, which was five albums. ‘You know, we’ve done what we’re contracted for, why should we stay anymore?’”
Though the rest of the members wanted The Police to continue, Sting decided to go solo. Summers continued:
“Of course, any band would stay, naturally, because it was going so brilliantly well. We dominated the world. No one wanted us to break up, but Sting wanted to go and be the thing all on his own.”
The Breakup Wasn’t Official
During their career, there were high tensions behind the scenes in the Police. It included physical and verbal fights among the members.
Even with the conflicts and arguments, there was never a discussion about a formal Police breakup. When Howard Stern asked Sting in 2016 if the decision to break up the band was his, the singer said:
“We didn’t officially break up.”
Sting Denied His Solo Career Ended The Band
In a 2020 episode of the Vintage Rock Pod, Police drummer Stewart Copeland said conflicts increased as Sting took more control over the band’s creative direction.
Meanwhile, Sting said that he felt ‘limited’ by the band, and that’s why he wanted to have something different to work on:
“I needed to spread my wings, you know, I needed a different set of colors to work with… A band has a certain sound, and it’s kind of limited.”
And he did spread his wings. Sting went solo, and he found even more success with songs like ‘Shape Of My Heart’ and ‘Englishman In New York.’ However, the rocker insisted that releasing music on his own wasn’t a plan to break up the Police:
“I just thought it was time that I exercise my right to make a solo album as the others had done. And then [my album] was a massive hit, so I went, ‘Hang on a minute…’”
Below, you can hear Police’s last album ever.