Sting talks to USA Today about upcoming tour, friendship with Billy Joel and loving Austin Butler in 'Dune'...

For Sting, the rebirths are continual.


His tour history is encyclopedic, whether solo, with pairings ranging from Annie Lennox to Shaggy or backed by a symphony. There was the lute album “Songs from the Labyrinth” in 2006 and his achingly personal 2013 album “The Last Ship” and subsequent musical that's still morphing, as he explains.


His combined tenure fronting The Police and his distinguished solo career have netted 17 Grammy Awards and a quartet of Oscar nominations.


There is no doubt that even on the cusp of 73, the well-preserved Sting is as musically voracious as ever, now paring down his usual band to a trio – himself, veteran guitar partner Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas – for what he’s amusingly dubbed Sting 3.0.


Though he was hesitant about going back to a trio format given the acrimonious dissolution of The Police, Sting says he’s “loving” this latest edition, which released the single “I Wrote Your Name (Upon My Heart)” on Thursday.