When Sting visibly cringed whilst watching cover version of ‘Every Breath You Take’

10 September 2024, 17:03

It must be an incredible feeling witnessing someone sing your songs.

When another artist wraps their voice around your words, creating new meanings, new emotions, and new possibilities.

There's forever an argument about the superiority of certain versions of songs, from the original singer's rendition to how a new artist can reimagine it for an entirely new audience.

Sting himself has been a frequent part of this argument, particularly when it came to his now-classic 'Fields Of Gold'.

Of course, his 1993 original version is immaculate, with Paul McCartney even admitting he'd wished he'd written it.

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But then several years later, the songbird herself Eva Cassidy lent her voice to 'Fields Of Gold' and made it her own.

The same could be said for Puerto Rican musician José Feliciano who covered 'Every Breath You Take' in 2017.

Though, he performed his version in honour of Sting - with The Police's former frontman in attendance - who looked less than impressed by Feliciano's rendition.

That year, Sting was awarded the Polar Music Prize, a Swedish music award founded by ABBA manager Stig Anderson.

Since 1989, the Polar Music Prize has been "awarded for significant achievements in music and/or musical activity, or for achievements which are found to be of great potential importance for music or musical activity, and it shall be referable to all fields within or closely connected with music."

The illustrious likes of Paul McCartney, Quincy Jones, Joni Mitchell, Led Zeppelin, Elton John, Patti Smith, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Bob Dylan and Burt Bacharach had all previously been named as recipients.

Now it was Sting's turn, with artists such as Gregory Porter and Annie Lennox surprising him with gorgeous performances of 'It's Probably Me' and 'Fragile'.

One artist paying tribute to Sting's celebrated career in music was Puerto Rican icon José Feliciano, who was chosen to perform The Police's greatest hit 'Every Breath You Take'.

The Latin pop pioneer who wrote the Christmas staple 'Feliz Navidad' had achieved enormous success with cover versions throughout his own career, including The Doors' 1967 classic 'Light My Fire'.

Though, it's safe to say, based on Sting's response to his performance, his rendition of the 1983 track from The Police's album Synchronicity wouldn't exactly go down in history for the right reasons.

José Feliciano performs Every Breath You Take at the Polar Music Prize ceremony 2017

As the Puerto Rican musician broke into the song's first chorus, he hit a few bum notes, and Sting tried his best to keep calm.

But it was evident he was uncomfortable throughout the entire four minutes of Feliciano's performance, looking bewildered and scratching his head in evident confusion.

Blinking frantically, rubbing his cheek with his finger, gulping as the song goes on, Sting does his best to contain his bemusement.

With his wife Trudie Styler sitting right beside him, it's not just Sting who's frozen in shock - the entire audience almost comes to a stand-still after the first few opening lines.

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Sting receives the Polar Music Prize 2017

It's unlikely that Sting himself envisioned his tribute would pan out in such a way, but was a good sport for clapping at the end having grinned and bared Feliciano butchering his most famous song.

One saving grace is that José Feliciano being completely blind - a result of congenital glaucoma - wouldn't have seen cringing in the audience.

It's hard to criticise Feliciano however, due to the fact he is such a huge admirer of Sting and his work, clearly excited by being given the opportunity to pay his respects.

Ahead of his performance, he said: "You know the first time I listen to Sting's music with The Police and by himself, I felt I was going to school."

"I was learning something, and that's very rare. For an artist to teach an artist something else with his music, that's unheard of."

By the sounds of it, Sting's musical teachings didn't seem to rub off too much. At least that's the way Sting saw it.