The October issue of the world's best-selling classicial music magazine - BBC Music Magazine - is in stores now and features Sting on the cover as well as an exclusive interview about his new album, 'Songs from the Labyrinth'. Here's a brief extract...

In 1982 I was performing at the Drury Lane Theatre in Covent Garden, as part of a variety show on behalf of Amnesty International. After the solo performance of one of my songs, the actor John Bird came to pay me a quiet compliment, and asked whether I'd ever heard the songs of John Dowland. I was forced to admit that, while I knew the name, and, vaguely, the fact that Dowland had been an Elizabethan/Jacobean composer, I knew little else. I thanked Mr. Bird for his compliment and was still intrigued enough the next day to seek out a collection of Dowland's songs performed by Peter Pears, with Julian Bream on lute. While I appreciated the melancholy beauty of this music, I couldn't quite see how it could ever be assimilated into the repertoire of an aspiring rock singer...

'Tony Bennett: Duets/An American Classic' is released on September 26 September to celebrate the legendary singer's 80th birthday. Sting guests on the track 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams'...

Sting.com will be holding an exclusive listening party for Sting's new album, 'Songs From the Labyrinth' for all Sting.com members! Starting Wednesday, September 20 at 5pm ET, members will have the chance to be amongst the first in the world to hear songs off the new album...

He said light music, she said gritty film... So I visited Sting and Mrs. Sting, Trudie Styler. It's a very simple, basic everyday sort of life. Three homes in three countries. New York one's a Central Park West duplex ("Four or five bedrooms, I don't remember," she says), but moving to an even larger penthouse overlooking the park. And lots of children - his, hers, theirs. And 10 dogs - we're talking palomino-size Irish wolfhounds. And heavy-duty careers. Sting's romantic new album "Songs From the Labyrinth," which is out next month, and producer Trudie's gritty new film "A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints," which is out next week...