Sting has reached a new milestone as the frontman of The Police turns 72 today.
Outside of music, the performer has also enjoyed success on the small screen having starred in numerous films, including Quadrophenia (1979), Dune (1984), and Julia and Julia (1987).
Back in 1996, when the producers of the Doctor Who TV Movie were casting the various roles, rumours swirled about who would be cast as the Time Lord’s frenemy, The Master.
A number of big names were said to have been considered including Phil Collins, David Bowie and even Mick Jagger.
However, it was Sting’s name that did come up in conversation to play the Master, as the producer of Doctor Who TV Movie, Philip Segal confirmed last year.
“I had four bosses: Universal Studios, BBC Enterprises, Fox, and the BBC itself,” he explained to Radio Times.
“Sometimes you can be forced into making offers – like a bluff in poker, because you gather intelligence to know the person isn’t available or they don’t want to do a series. The powers at be just want to know that you made the effort to ask.”
Addressing Sting taking on a role in Doctor Who, he added: “I think his name came up for the villain. These casting ideas were ultimately never a demand, but more like wishes that would get tossed around a lot.”
Sting has not only been at the centre of rumours on the small screen but the Roxanne hitmaker was said to be receiving an eye-watering sum of $5,000 (£4,000) per day from entrepreneur Diddy, formerly Puff Daddy.
The rapper and producer, whose real name is Sean Combs, was forced to clear up the royalty revenue claims after a 2018 interview resurfaced online.
It comes after he sampled the singer’s 1983 single Every Breath You Take on his 1997 tribute to rapper Biggie Smalls, I’ll Be Missing You.
Speaking on The Breakfast Club, Sting told hosts Charlamagne tha God, DJ Envy and Angela Yee he made about $2,000 a day from royalties from the song and Diddy has to pay him.
The rapper re-shared the clip and wrote, “Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @officialsting!”
The post went viral and the Bad Boy For Life artist was forced to set the record straight about paying Sting thousands per day.
“I want y’all to understand I was joking!” Diddy commented.
“It’s called being facetious! Me and @OfficialSting have been friends for a long time! He never charged me $3K or $5K a day for Missing You. He probably makes more than $5K a day from one of the biggest songs in history,” he added.
At the time Diddy released Missing You he never obtained the rights to sample the single and only asked for permission to use the sample only once the song had been released.
Sting sued the rapper to resolve the matter and a daily payment was enacted after the lawsuit, with the Brit musician earning 100 per cent of the royalties instead of the standard 25 per cent or less.
However, Sting sold the rights to his catalogue including all songwriting royalties in 2022 to Universal Music Publishing for $300 million, so the company now takes the majority of the money.
He went on to tell the Breakfast Club, “We’re very good friends now” as he praised Diddy’s version of his song as “beautiful”.
Sting and Diddy performed the emotional tune together at the MTV Video Music Awards held in Radio City Music Hall, New York City, on September 4, 1997.
The tribute was a hit and spent 11 weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100.
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