page_title: The Police
section_title: 1977–1978: Recording contract and Outlandos d'Amour
hierarchical_section_title: The Police / Career / 1977–1978: Recording contract and Outlandos d'Amour
caption_attribution_description: BBC TV Centre
context_page_description: The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland. The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Emerging in the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.
  Their 1978 debut album, Outlandos d'Amour, reached No. 6 in the UK Albums Chart. Their second album Reggatta de Blanc, became the first of four consecutive No. 1 studio albums in the UK and Australia with its lead single, "Message in a Bottle", their first UK number one. Their next two albums, Zenyatta Mondatta and Ghost in the Machine, featuring "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", both UK number one singles, saw further critical and commercial success.
  Their final studio album, Synchronicity, was No. 1 in both the UK and the US, selling over 8 million copies in the US alone. Its lead single, "Every Breath You Take", became their fifth UK number one, and first in the US.
context_section_description: Copeland's older brother Miles was initially sceptical of the inclusion of Summers in the band, fearing it would undermine their punk credibility, and reluctantly agreed to provide £1,500 to finance the Police's first album. Recording Outlandos d'Amour was difficult, as the band was working on a small budget, with no manager or record deal. It was recorded during off-peak hours at the Surrey Sound Studios in Leatherhead, Surrey, a converted recording facility above a dairy which was run by brothers Chris and Nigel Gray.
  During one of his periodic studio visits, Miles heard "Roxanne" for the first time at the end of a session. Where he had been less enthusiastic about the band's other songs, the elder Copeland was immediately struck by the track, and quickly got the Police a record deal with A&M Records on the strength of it. "Roxanne" was issued as a single in the spring of 1978, while other album tracks were still in the midst of being recorded, but it failed to chart. It also failed to make the BBC's playlist, which the band attributed to the song's depiction of prostitution. A&M consequently promoted the single with posters claiming "Banned by the BBC", though it was never really banned, just not play-listed. Copeland later admitted, "We got a lot of mileage out of it being supposedly banned by the BBC."
  The Police made their first television appearance a few months later, in October 1978, on BBC2's The Old Grey Whistle Test to promote the release of Outlandos d'Amour. Though "Roxanne" was never banned, the BBC did ban the second single from Outlandos d'Amour, "Can't Stand Losing You". This was due to the single's cover, which featured Copeland hanging himself over an ice block being melted by a portable radiator. The single became a minor chart hit, the Police's first, peaking at No. 42 in the UK. The follow-up single "So Lonely", issued in November 1978, failed to chart. In February 1979 "Roxanne" was issued as a single in North America, where it was warmly received on radio despite the subject matter. The song peaked at No. 31 in Canada and No. 32 in the US, spurring a UK re-release of it in April. The band performed "Roxanne" on BBC1's Top of the Pops, and the re-issue of the song finally gained the band widespread recognition in the UK when it peaked at No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart.
  The group's UK success led to gigs in the US at the famous New York City club CBGB and at The Chance in Poughkeepsie, New York, from which "Roxanne" finally debuted on US radio on WPDH, and a gruelling 1979 North American tour in which the band drove themselves and their equipment around the country in a Ford Econoline van. That summer, "Can't Stand Losing You" was also re-released in the UK, becoming a substantial hit, peaking at No. 2. The group's first single, "Fall Out", was re-issued in late 1979, and became a minor chart hit, peaking at No. 47 in the UK.
caption: BBC Television Centre where the Police made their television debut on The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1978, and where they also made their first appearance on Top of the Pops in 1979
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