Sting feels the burn - Gordon Sumner exercises his prerogatives in music, film and fame: On a lovely April morning, weeks before the completion of his not-the-Police album, the summer premieres of his two feature films, the world tour with his new band and the birth of his fourth child - Sting, a young man with everything to live for dove ten fathoms in the benign Caribbean and ran out of air...

Sting discusses what's past, passing and to come... Among contemporary musicians, only David Bowie exceeds Sting in his quest for movie stardom, and in the number of film roles to his credit. Still it could be argued that Sting has been more of what professional athletic scouts call "an impact player" than any of his other celebrated contemporaries who've attempted the rock-to-film crossover (the jury's still out on Madonna, who on the basis of one film seems to have the star quality that's eluded other rock artists on the silver screen). In addition to a chilling performance as the Jekyll-Hyde rapist character in 'Brimstone and Treacle', Sting's chalked up a major credit as one of the leads in 'Dune', will soon be seen starring opposite Meryl Streep in the romantic drama 'Plenty', and will portray the fatally ambitious Dr. Frankenstein in 'The Bride', a remake of The Bride of Frankenstein...

Sting wings it on his own - The sexy ex-chief of the Police mounts a solo flight to multimedia stardom. "I don't want to become irrelevant. I don't want to be redundant, I fear that, and I think money and success can make you that way very easily, very simply, very quickly. And I want to sidestep all that..."

Fear and loathing in the Caribbean: "The strangest thing happened today: I was out windsurfing on my board and suddenly the rudder was gone. It just snapped off for no apparent reason." Sting is lying face up on a pool table at Eddy Grant's Blue Wave Studio in Barbados. "I believe that everything happens for a purpose, so I asked myself why did this happen now? Then I realised the truth. I'd lost my sense of direction." He shields his eyes with his forearm and continues in a low voice. "Is the album any good? I don't know anymore. My voice, it's so weak. I was even tearful before. I just wanted to forget the band. I wanted to go home, crawl into bed, just forget the whole thing because I can't sing..."

Sting II - Sting has a new band and new dreams. In a Spin exclusive he reflects on where he's going and where he came from: 60° West Longitude, 16°45' North Latitude - "Captain sir, permission to break out the vodka and orange!" whoops the handsome blond helmsman as he hugs the ship's sleek steel wheel, an impish gust suddenly sending some briny spray into his smirking face. "And the gods have spoken!" he asserts, wiping the bracing water away. "Aw, yes, this certainly beats the coal fields of Newcastle...!"

What do you get when you cross four Jazzers who disdain rock'n'roll with Sting, who doesn't particularly like it either? A milestone rock album... The crowd at Manhattan's the Ritz strained against the edge of the stage as Sting stepped forward to introduce the next song, a new number entitled 'Moon Over Bourbon Street'. "This is about an accidental vampire caught between good and evil," he announced, the spotlights casting an eerie glow on his face. Then, with a smirk, he added. "A bit like someone we know isn't it...?"

A candid conversation with the red-hot british pop star and actor about rock'n'roll, politics, sex, love, old partners and fresh starts. When you're a skinny English kid with a name like Gordon Sumner, living near the docks in Newcastle, a poor coal and ship-building town, it's only natural to yearn for a little glamour, a little excitement. So, lugging your first guitar, your young wife and your new baby, you head off to London with a new name-they call you Sting, because you wear yellow-and-black pullovers-and form a rock'n'roll band. It's been written before...

Serious and sexy Sting - Making a beeline for stardom: Sting, sitting in an elaborate suite at Los Angeles' trendy Chateau Marmont Hotel, finishes off a croissant before explaining 'The Dream of the Blue Turtles', the title of his first album without the Police. The title was inspired, he explains, by a dream he had in January in which he was looking out his bedroom window at his beautifully maintained garden...

Here we at the Mogador, Paris, one of those antique theatres with an interior like an inside-out wedding cake. The French fans have turned up in force to see the new Sting, here to launch his first solo album, 'The Dream Of The Blue Turtles', with an entirely new, all-black band. Punk-jumping around the stage, very fast and nasty, now looking heroic and vulnerable, now coming on like a blond Dracula, the old Sting is very much apparent...

Sting's swing shift - A Policeman becomes a private eye: "Hey, are you awake yet? Is anybody there...?" Aaarrgghh! I groan inwardly and make a feeble attempt to roll myself to the other end of the bed, desperate to escape from the squawking voice in my answering machine. What kind of an asshole would call at 9am on a Saturday morning without... "Look this is Sting in London, and I need to talk to you about..."

Sting looks like he hasn't slept for a week. His face carries the glazed expression of someone who's not only burnt the candle at both ends but had a good attempt at attacking the centre.He's ushered onto a podium, with the other six members of his new band - currently in the middle of a seven day session of dates at the Theatre Mogador, Paris - their European debut...

Sting, lead singer of The Police, talks to Tony Wragg... Sting, it has been more than two years since the last Police album, 'Synchronicity'. You are now touring the world for seven months as a solo performer. Were you at any stage apprehensive about going it alone...?

Hampstead, North London. Chez Sting. Across the lane is where Charles de Gaulle lived during the Nazi occupation of France. Two centuries ago this and the neighbouring house were joined as a pub called the Three Pigeons, and three decades ago Tamara Karsavina, the Diaghilev prima ballerina, trod these creaky floorboards. The current householder, planning a move across Hampstead Heath to the equally artsy and venerable Highgate, now peers across the room at his daughter with a wry grin and the barest edge of pique. "Give me a kiss," he says in the age-old paternal lilt. "Hey, give me a kiss - no...?"

Stingtime in Paris - the Polce Chief sets himself free: It's ironic, the Police should be taking this sabbatical, or whatever it is, straight after making the best music of their career. I'd take side two of 'Synchronicity' ('Every Breath You Take', 'King Of Pain' etc) over anything else you did. "Yes, I would too. But the choice was, do we keep repeating that formula, become like The Rolling Stones? Or do we allow ourselves the time and space to think of something new? There is no plan whatever for the Police to work again. Nor is there a reason to say we've broken up..."

It's the real Sting - He's back, dreaming of turtles, forming bands, having babies, searching for the Yeti and trying to improve East/West relations. Sting looks like he hasn't slept for a week. His face carries the glazed expression of someone who's not only burnt the candle at both ends but had a good attempt at attacking the centre. He's ushered onto a podium, with the other six members of his new band - currently in the middle of a seven day session of dates at the Theatre Mogador, Paris - their European debut...