Happy 72nd Birthday to Sting!

Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner is 72 today! Of course, you know him as Sting, the Grammy Award-winning musician and former frontman of the Police, who brought us songs like “Every Breath You Take,” “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,” and “Fields of Gold.”

Sting got his nickname as a young man when he performed in jazz ensembles. He had a habit of wearing a black and yellow jumper and the bandleader thought he looked like a bee or wasp, earning him the nickname Sting. The name stuck – even his six children call him Sting!

Sting has been married to Trudie Styler since 1992.

He’s released 15 studio albums and is well-known for his activism. He has lately voiced his concern over AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the effect on the music industry.

Recently, a TikTok user claimed to have used AI to generate the voices of Drake and The Weeknd to create the viral track “Heart on my Sleeve.

Sting told the BBC that “the building blocks of music belong to us, to human beings. That’s going to be a battle we all have to fight in the next couple of years: Defending our human capital against AI.”

He went on to add that “I get immediately bored when I see a computer-generated image. I imagine I will feel the same way about AI making music. Maybe for electronic dance music, it works. But for songs, you know, expressing emotions, I don’t think I will be moved by it.”

Sting said AI tools can be useful, but cautioned against letting machines just take over.