Status
Available
Collection
Publication
The Dial Press (2003), Edition: 1st, 337 pages
Description
Having been a songwriter most of my life, condensing my ideas and emotions into short rhyming couplets and setting them to music, I had never really considered writing a book, but upon arriving at the reflective age of fifty, I found myself drawn, for the first time, to write long passages that were as stimulating and intriguing to me as any songwriting I had ever done. And so 'Broken Music' began to take shape. It is a book about the early part of my life, from childhood through adolescence, right up to the eve of my success with the Police. It is a story very few people know. I had no interest in writing a traditional autobiographical recitation of everything that's ever happened to me. Instead I was drawn to exploring specific moments, certain people and relationships, and particular events which still resonate powerfully for me as I try to understand the child I was, and the man I became. STIN… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member Augusti
I recently got into the music of The Police, so I was curious about the band, and also about Sting's acting (Dune, Quadrophenia, etc.) Even though Broken Music is about Sting's life leading up to the band's huge success, the book gave me the insight that I was looking for.
Sting has a truly
I found surprising humor in Sting's perspective and in the way that he sort of pokes fun of the absurdities of life. His memoir is tragic at times, but rather revealing and honest.
Now, if only The Police's founder and brilliant drummer Stewart Copeland would write a book! He does write a few things at stewartcopeland.net but it would be great to hear about his early years.
Sting has a truly
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mesmerizing way with words that pulled me through the book faster than I expected. He grabbed my attention with the opening, but then things slowed down during his initial recollections of his very early years. In the end, this helped to explain the path that he took in life and sheds some light on his public persona. He also describes his early musical background as a jazz cat, which helps to explain the direction that he took after leaving The Police.I found surprising humor in Sting's perspective and in the way that he sort of pokes fun of the absurdities of life. His memoir is tragic at times, but rather revealing and honest.
Now, if only The Police's founder and brilliant drummer Stewart Copeland would write a book! He does write a few things at stewartcopeland.net but it would be great to hear about his early years.
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LibraryThing member csayban
3.0 stars – good
Born to working class parents in the English port town of Wallsend, Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner was a smart, quiet boy with good grades who would become a teacher, get married and have a couple of children. This is the person we don’t know. The person we do know is a Grammy
Broken Music is Sting’s autobiography of his life leading up to the moment of his first real commercial success with The Police in 1978. The book takes us through the loneliness of his youth, the contentious marriage of his parents and the failings of his relationships. Sting is very open about his upbringing as well as his shortcomings, including his propensity to be seen as arrogant. It is a charge he doesn’t try very hard to dispute. What does become apparent is how his upbringing and experiences shaped not just his life, but his music as well. Success was not the product of overwhelming talent, but rather single-minded, dogged determination. And while he was never the best pure musician, Sting’s strength was in storytelling and performance. This probably forms from his love of literature.
“For to sit in a room full of books, and remember the stories they told you, and to know precisely where each one is located and what was happening in your life at time or where you were when you first read it is the languid and distilled pleasure of the connoisseur.”
I found Sting’s story very interesting in and of itself. The writing is solid, if not great. There are also a lot of distractive asides and jumps back and forth in time that make it difficult to follow the narrative. However, the biggest letdown is the incomplete nature of the autobiography. While Sting wrote Broken Music in 2003, he essentially ends the narrative at the end of the 1970’s just as The Police were hitting it big. Knowing that there are so many fascinating parts of his life left unmentioned – his break with the Police, his role in the movie Dune, his solo career, the 9/11 concert in Tuscany, and many more – it is a letdown to not get to experience his personal take on these watershed moments in his life.
So while I enjoyed what I did get to read in Broken Music, I was disappointed in what I didn’t get to read. It is a good, but incomplete look at a fascinating individual in popular culture. I just wish there could have been more.
Born to working class parents in the English port town of Wallsend, Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner was a smart, quiet boy with good grades who would become a teacher, get married and have a couple of children. This is the person we don’t know. The person we do know is a Grammy
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Award winning singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, activist, actor and philanthropist – who’s stage name is Sting. Broken Music is Sting’s autobiography of his life leading up to the moment of his first real commercial success with The Police in 1978. The book takes us through the loneliness of his youth, the contentious marriage of his parents and the failings of his relationships. Sting is very open about his upbringing as well as his shortcomings, including his propensity to be seen as arrogant. It is a charge he doesn’t try very hard to dispute. What does become apparent is how his upbringing and experiences shaped not just his life, but his music as well. Success was not the product of overwhelming talent, but rather single-minded, dogged determination. And while he was never the best pure musician, Sting’s strength was in storytelling and performance. This probably forms from his love of literature.
“For to sit in a room full of books, and remember the stories they told you, and to know precisely where each one is located and what was happening in your life at time or where you were when you first read it is the languid and distilled pleasure of the connoisseur.”
I found Sting’s story very interesting in and of itself. The writing is solid, if not great. There are also a lot of distractive asides and jumps back and forth in time that make it difficult to follow the narrative. However, the biggest letdown is the incomplete nature of the autobiography. While Sting wrote Broken Music in 2003, he essentially ends the narrative at the end of the 1970’s just as The Police were hitting it big. Knowing that there are so many fascinating parts of his life left unmentioned – his break with the Police, his role in the movie Dune, his solo career, the 9/11 concert in Tuscany, and many more – it is a letdown to not get to experience his personal take on these watershed moments in his life.
So while I enjoyed what I did get to read in Broken Music, I was disappointed in what I didn’t get to read. It is a good, but incomplete look at a fascinating individual in popular culture. I just wish there could have been more.
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LibraryThing member eduscapes
This great autobiography provides interesting insights into the life of one of my favorite musicial artists, Sting.
LibraryThing member Blenny
Informative and well written, Sting is frank and surprisingly open about his relationships, friendships and career from his early life through to the beginning of the Police.
LibraryThing member foomy
I'm a huge fan of his music but not of his arrogant, hypocritical writing. I think he has a strong ego and a wanna-be-writer. I admit he is an intellectual literate for a musician but he has received enough recognition as an artist that he doesn't have to prove more. He should take an example from
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his other fellow musician-friends for their humbleness: Clapton, Dylan, Cash etc... Show Less
LibraryThing member Melanie_Hughes
I really enjoyed learning about the experiences that made Sting the performer and man he is today. A very interesting person and some moving moments in the book.
LibraryThing member TheCrow2
An iteresting and honest autobiography from an intelligent and honest musician. From the early days till the first glimpses of the great success wilth the Police.
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2003
Physical description
8.5 inches
ISBN
0385336780 / 9780385336789