Sting's New Buzz
With all those kids, it was bound to happen. One of Sting's sons, Joe Sumner, is following in his father's musical footsteps. The junior Sting, who we hear bears a striking resemblance to his father back in the Police days, took the stage at Mercury Lounge last week with the band Santa's Boyfriend. The London-based group just wrapped up a tour of small venues on both coasts -- in fact, papa Sting graced the stage at a gig in L.A. According to a rep for Santa's Boyfriend, the band is now shopping for a record deal. Something tells us they won't be looking very long.
"Son of Sting"
Like Ziggy Marley, Julian Lennon and Jakob Dylan, Joe Sumner could find it hard to step out from behind the shadow of a famous musical father. Sumner, 24, is hitting the club circuit, fronting a virtually unknown rock band named Santa's Boyfriend. Sting is "rooting passionately" for his oldest boy, band manager Wayne Isaak told us, "but he's also an artist and he knows the importance of allowing artists to have their own identity." And so, Sumner the younger is "trying to stay under the radar," Isaak said, to avoid the obvious comparisons to the Police, which his father joined a year before Joe was born. Still, no DNA tests were needed after Sumner took the stage last week at the Viper Room in West Hollywood. Record label reps exchanged knowing glances while the scruffy blond Brit led Santa's Boyfriend in an energetic set of short songs that sounded so Police-like that a woman in the audience asked, "How do they expect to keep it a secret that he's Sting's son?" After the show, Sumner did the struggling young musician thing, hauling his own equipment to a parked blue van. When we asked for a chat, he demurred. "No, I don't think so. I'm not really into that. (Ann O'Neill City of Angles)
5/30/01
"Pop Rocks"
Joe Sumner, the
24-year-old front man for the budding rock band Santa's Boyfriend, is the son
of Sting, 49, and his first wife, Frances Tomelty. Although one critic said
the guitarist,'inherited his pop's charisma genes,' Joe wants to make it on
his own. So please, Dad --- don't stand so close to him. (from People)
