Andy Summers

At 81 years old, Andy Summers has this physical status:

Summers's professional career began in the mid-1960s in London as guitarist for the British rhythm and blues band Zoot Money's Big Roll Band, which eventually came under the influence of the psychedelic scene and evolved into the acid rock group Dantalian's Chariot. In September 1966, Summers was the first guitarist encountered by Jimi Hendrix after landing in the UK. The young Summers is portrayed in fiction as one of the "two main love interests" in Jenny Fabian and Johnny Byrne's 1969 book Groupie, in which he is given the pseudonym "Davey".

After the demise of Dantalian's Chariot, Summers joined Soft Machine for three months and toured the United States. For a brief time in 1968, he was a member of the Animals, then known as Eric Burdon and the Animals, with whom he recorded one album, Love Is. The album features a recording of Traffic's "Coloured Rain", which includes a 4 minute and 15 second guitar solo by Summers. The LP also included a reworked version of Dantalian's Chariot's sole single "Madman Running Through the Fields".

After five years in Los Angeles, mostly spent studying classical guitar and composition in the music programme at California State University, Northridge, from which he graduated in 1972, he returned to London with his American girlfriend, Kate Lunken.

In London, Summers recorded and toured with acts including Kevin Coyne, Jon Lord, Joan Armatrading, David Essex, Neil Sedaka and Kevin Ayers. In October 1975 he participated in an orchestral rendition of Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells.

In 1977, Summers was invited by ex-Gong bassist Mike Howlett to join his band Strontium 90, but was soon coaxed away by future Police bandmates Sting and Stewart Copeland.

Summers achieved international fame as the guitarist for the Police, which he joined in 1977, eventually replacing original guitarist Henry Padovani. Emerging from London's punk scene, the Police gained international renown with many hit songs, including "Message in a Bottle", "Roxanne", "Don't Stand So Close to Me", "Every Breath You Take", and "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic". During his time with the band, Summers twice won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, first in 1979 for "Reggatta de Blanc" (written with Copeland and Sting) and in 1980 for "Behind My Camel".

Although Sting was the lead singer of the band, Summers occasionally contributed lead vocals, as in "Be My Girl/Sally" (1978), "Friends" (1980), "Mother" (1983), and "Someone to Talk To" (1983). Other notable Summers compositions from this period are "Omegaman" (which would have been released as the debut single from the 1981 Ghost in the Machine album had Sting not objected), "Shambelle" (1981), "Once Upon a Daydream," and "Murder by Numbers" both co-written with Sting (both 1983). In early 1984, after seven years together and record sales around 80 million, the Police disbanded.

Summers wrote the guitar riff for "Every Breath You Take", though was not given a songwriting credit. It was recorded in one take with his 1961 Fender Stratocaster during the Synchronicity sessions. The song was number one for eight weeks. Sting won the 1983 Grammy Award for Song of the Year, and the Police won Best Pop Performance by a Duo Or Group With Vocal for this song. Summers provides an account of the session in his memoir, One Train Later.

As a member of the Police, Summers created a trademark guitar sound, which relied heavily on a chorus effect. He explained in 2017 how the sound came about:

Summers's solo career has included recording, touring, composing for films (including Down and Out in Beverly Hills and Weekend at Bernie's), and exhibiting his photography in art galleries around the world.

He recorded the duet albums I Advance Masked (1982) and Bewitched (1984) with guitarist Robert Fripp of King Crimson, as well as duet albums with Victor Biglione, John Etheridge, and Benjamin Verdery. His solo debut album, XYZ, was released in 1987 and is the only noninstrumental album in his solo catalogue. Although it included pop material, such as the single "Love is the Strangest Way", it failed to dent the charts. In 1987, Sting invited Summers to perform on his second album ...Nothing Like the Sun, a favour the singer returned by playing bass on Charming Snakes (1990) and later contributing vocals to "'Round Midnight" on Summers' tribute album to Thelonious Monk, Green Chimneys, in 1999. In the mid-1990s Summers briefly returned to a more rock-oriented sound with Synesthesia (1995) and The Last Dance of Mr X (1997) before recording a string of jazz albums. He also participated in the formation of Animal Logic. In 1992, he led the house band (credited as musical director) for The Dennis Miller Show.

During the 2007 Grammy Awards show, the Police played "Roxanne" and subsequently announced that they would be going on tour. The Police Reunion Tour began in Vancouver, Canada, on 28 May 2007 and continued until August 2008, becoming the third-highest-grossing tour of all time.

In August 2013, Summers announced he had formed the band Circa Zero with Rob Giles from the Rescues. Originally, drummer Emmanuelle Caplette was also a member of the band. Their debut show was 25 July 2013 at the El Rey Theatre in Los Angeles. The band's debut album, Circus Hero, was released 25 March 2014. It is titled after a malapropism of the band's name made by a radio disc jockey during an interview of Summers.

In March 2017, Summers announced he had formed Call the Police, a Police tribute band, with two Brazilian musicians, Rodrigo Santos (Barão Vermelho or Red Baron) on bass guitar and vocals and Joao Barone (Os Paralamas do Sucesso) on drums.

In 2019, The New York Times Magazine listed Summers among hundreds of musicians whose material was destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Source

• Grammy Award, Best Rock Instrumental, "Reggatta de Blanc", 1979
• Grammy Award, Best Rock Instrumental, "Behind My Camel", 1980
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction with the Police, 2003
• Chevalier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, with the Police, 2007
• Honorary doctorate, Bournemouth University, 2008
• Hall of Fame, Guitar Player magazine
• Vote number one pop guitarist, five years, Guitar Player magazine
• Guiding Light Award, Progressive Music Awards, 2016
• 85th guitarist of all time, Rolling Stone magazine
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Gibson Guitar Awards, 2000
• Lifetime Achievement Award, Roland and BOSS, 2017
• One Train Later (2006) was voted music book of the year by Mojo and was turned into the 2012 documentary Can't Stand Losing You: Surviving the Police. The documentary was released on DVD in July 2015.