The Police - Reggatta de Blanc
Written by: Moti Kupfer
Release date - 02.10.1979
When people talk about reggae, they usually think of Jamaica, Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Jimmy Cliff. But white reggae? How did such a thing come about, and what exactly is white reggae?
And in a perfect coincidence, October 2 is also Sting's birthday. In 2026 he celebrates his 75th birthday. Sting was born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner in Wallsend in 1951. His mother was a hairdresser and his father worked as a milkman and engineering labourer. Gordon's dreams were bigger, and he later recalled being inspired by the sight of the Queen Mother waving from a royal Rolls-Royce.
Gordon helped his father on the milk round, while at the same time nurturing his love of music on an old Spanish guitar left behind by a friend of his father who had moved away. During his school years in Newcastle he visited clubs where he saw, among others, "Cream" and "Manfred Mann". He later enrolled at Warwick University, but left after one semester, while continuing to play jazz clubs in the evenings.
He later trained as a teacher and by the age of 23 was already qualified. That, of course, did not stop him from playing. Sumner performed with Phoenix Jazzmen, Newcastle Big Band and the group "Last Exit". While playing with Phoenix Jazzmen he often wore a yellow-and-black striped sweater, which reminded his bandmates of a bee. That is how the nickname Sting stuck, quickly becoming the name by which the entire world would know him.
Stewart Copeland was born in Alexandria, Virginia, in 1952. His father, Miles Copeland Jr., was an American intelligence officer and one of the early figures associated with the CIA, while his mother Lorraine was an archaeologist. Copeland spent much of his childhood in the Middle East, including Cairo and Beirut, and began learning drums at a young age. In the mid-1970s he returned to England, working as a tour manager and later as the drummer for progressive rock band "Curved Air".
Andy Summers was born in 1942 in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire, England. His family later moved to Bournemouth, and after starting on piano he switched to guitar and became deeply immersed in jazz. In the mid-1960s he played with "Zoot Money's Big Roll Band", later with "Soft Machine" and Eric Burdon and the Animals. He also took part in an orchestral performance of "Tubular Bells" by Mike Oldfield.
With all that musical baggage behind them, Sting and Copeland joined forces in 1977. Early on, guitarist Henry Padovani played alongside them in "The Police", and later that year Andy Summers joined after the musicians crossed paths around the "Strontium 90" project. Before long, the classic trio line-up had taken shape. Sting later explained that the name "The Police" was short, striking and a word that appeared constantly in newspapers, which gave it a good chance of attracting attention.
The beginning was not easy. Miles Copeland, Stewart's brother, recognized the trio's potential and helped them, while debut album "Outlandos d'Amour" was recorded at Nigel Gray's Surrey Sound Studios on a limited budget. The first singles were not immediate hits, but gradually "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You" found their audience and the album began to gather momentum.
At the beginning of 1979 the band returned to Surrey Sound to record its second album, tighter and more experienced after touring. The improvement in their playing as a unit, together with several Sting songs that would become major hits, was poured into "Reggatta de Blanc". Some of the material also drew on older ideas from his "Last Exit" period and on pieces that had not fully developed in time for the debut album.
The songs Copeland wrote for the album did not always receive the same affection as Sting's singles, but his sharp, infectious and unpredictable drumming, Sting's bass and Summers' economical, spacious guitar work are exactly what made "The Police" sound unlike anyone else. The blend of rock, reggae, new wave and post-punk created that same "white reggae" hinted at by the album's title.
The three major singles pushed the band another step forward, with "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon" both reaching No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart. "Bring on the Night" was also released as a single in several countries and reached No. 6 in France. The album's success was so great that singles from the debut, when reissued, also enjoyed renewed chart success.
One of the album's high points is "Message in a Bottle", the story of a lonely man who sends a message in a bottle in the hope that someone will find it, only to discover in the end that he is not the only one who feels that way. Andy Summers has counted it among his favourite songs to play, and its circling riff became one of the band's most recognizable.
And then comes "Walking on the Moon". It is hard to remain indifferent to Copeland's drumming and the enormous space created between drums, bass and guitar. Sting said the idea was born after he returned to his room drunk and found himself humming "Walking Round the Room", a phrase that later became "Walking on the Moon".
"Reggatta de Blanc" reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 25 on the Billboard 200. The instrumental title track also won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. The album transformed "The Police" from a promising band into a major force in late-1970s British rock and laid the foundation for the enormous international success that would follow.
Take a look at the cover as well. It may not be one of the most elaborate sleeves in rock history, but on the band's first three albums all three members appear, with a different member taking the centre of the image each time. Here Sting stands in the middle, just as the band itself was beginning to move toward centre stage worldwide.
For Listening: Spotify, Apple Music
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