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The Police
The Police


Background information
Origin London, England
Genre(s) Rock
New Wave
Post-punk
Reggae
Years active 1977—1984
Label(s) Universal
A&M Records
Associated acts Sting
Strontium 90
Oysterhead
Eberhard Schoener
Website Website
Former members
Sting
Andy Summers
Stewart Copeland
Henry Padovani



Music World  →  Lyrics  →  T  →  The Police  →  News

Chef Claims Sting Owes Him Royalties

April 21, 2008
Chef Claims Sting Owes Him RoyaltiesSting is facing a bizarre lawsuit from a chef who claims he’s owed royalties after helping him write two of The Police’s biggest hits.

Roy Smith has filed a complaint with police in Reno, Nevada, and is seeking royalties from ‘Roxanne’ and ‘Message In A Bottle’.

The 48-year-old claims he helped write the songs because, wait for it…. he once told Sting about a former girlfriend who was called Roxanne and was a prostitute, and he also told him about how he once wrote a message to his mum and put it in a bottle.

Smith claims he spun Sting the yarns when they met in a Reno Restaurant in the Seventies, and claims the singer tried to ring him a few years later – but the message never got passed on by his mother, who thought it was the real police who were after her son.

Despite supposedly passing a polygraph test over his claims, Sting’s lawyers have unsurprisingly dismissed the claims, with police redirecting Smith to the civil courts.

(by C Taylor)



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