• Writer: Sting
• Recorded: Late 1982/early 1983 in Montserrat
• Released: May 1983
• Players:
  Sting — vocals, bass
  Andy Summers — guitar
  Stewart Copeland — drums
• Album: Synchronicity (A&M, 1983)
• Also On:
  Every Breath You Take — The Singles (A&M, 1986)
  Message In A Box: The Complete Recordings (A&M, 1993)
  Live (A&M, 1995)
  Every Breath You Take: The Classics (A&M, 1995)
  The Very Best Of Sting & The Police (A&M, 1997)
  Greatest Hits (A&M, 1998)
  All This Time (A&M, 2001) (Sting)
  The Very Best Of Sting & The Police (A&M, 2002)
• “Every Breath You Take” was the Police‘s most successful single, topping the Billboard Hot 100 for eight weeks. Singer and bassist Sting says he always knew that the song would be a Number One hit.
• The song also spent four weeks at Number One on the U.K. chart.
• It received the Song Of The Year Grammy Award in 1984, as well as the Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.
• The song also was named Best Song Musically & Lyrically and Most Performed Work at the Ivor Novello Awards in Britain.
• Although on its surface it appears to be a love song, “Every Breath You Take” has a much darker and sinister underpinning as Sting — whose marriage was breaking up as he wrote the song — muses on jealousy and possessiveness.
• The black and white video for “Every Breath You Take,” directed by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, received several awards, including Best Group Video at the American Video Awards and the MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography.
• The Synchronicity album, named after psychologist Carl Jung‘s theory of collective unconsciousness and mystical coincidence, topped charts around the world, including in the U.S. and U.K.
• It’s been certified eight times platinum for sales of more than eight million copies. The album received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal.

FAST FORWARD:

• The Police broke up in 1984, with all three members pursuing solo careers.
• The group reunited in June 1986 to play shows on the Amnesty International “Conspiracy Of Hope” tour.
• Of the three members, Sting’s solo career has been the most successful. He’s also pursued acting, with several film roles and live theater performances.
• Sting has guested on some recordings by guitarist Andy Summers, who has concentrated primarily on jazz and classical music since the Police broke up.
• Besides his work with the Police, the jazz-fusion group Animal Logic, and the jam band Oysterhead, drummer Stewart Copeland is well known in the industry as a film composer, having worked on movies including Wall Street and 9-1/2 Weeks.
• The Police were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.

Sting is involved with benefits for human rights, Amnesty International, and rain forest preservation. Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II has named Sting a CBE, or Commander Of The British Empire, an honorary title that ranks just below knight.