Sting’s Lawyer Says His Police Bandmates Actually May Have Been “Substantially Overpaid”

The Police’s 1983 mega-hit “Every Breath You Take” is one of the biggest pop hits of all time, and its sole credited songwriter is Sting, the band’s singer and bassist. This has long been a point of contention between Sting and his former Police bandmates, guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland. Summers came up with the arpeggiated “Every Breath You Take” riff, one of the elements that Puff Daddy sampled on his enormously successful 1997 single “I’ll Be Missing You.” Now, after 42 years, Summers and Copeland are suing Sting for millions in lost royalties. Sting still has yet to respond to that lawsuit directly, but his lawyer claims that Summers and Copeland have, if anything, been “substantially overpaid.”