Andy Summers rose to fame in the early 1980’s as the guitarist with the multi-million record selling rock band The Police. The Police were the number one band of the time and dominated the music scene and the media in the eighties with several number albums and singles including Every Breath You Take, Roxanne, Don’t Stand So Close to Me, Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, Invisible Sun, and Message in a Bottle. The band was the recipient of several Grammys and awards too numerous to mention.
Andy Summers innovative guitar playing created a new paradigm for guitarists in this period and has been widely imitated ever since. Prior to the Police Andy Summers played with various bands in the London scene including the Soft Machine, Kevin Coyne and also Kevin Ayers.
Post Police, Andy has made thirteen solo records, collaborated with many other musicians and toured the world as a solo artist. In addition he has composed film scores, and along with many photo gallery exhibitions, Andy has published books of his photography.
In 2006 his autobiography One Train Later was released to great success and was voted the number one music book of the year in the UK. The film Can’t Stand Losing You based on the book saw it’s theatrical release in the US by Cinema Libre in March 2015. The DVD of the film was released on July 14th 2015, along with Andy’s CD – Metal Dog.
Recent photography exhibitions include A Certain Strangeness at the Pavillon Populaire in Montpellier France where it broke all attendance records, followed by a six month run at the Bonnefanten Museum, Maastricht in the Netherlands. The travelling exhibition was also seen at Leica galleries in London, Hamburg, Munich, Paris New York and Leica headquarters in Wetzlar, Germany.
Leica Camera and Fender Guitars collaborated in 2017 to make limited editions in matching designs of a Leica M camera and an Andy Summers Signature Stratocaster, re-named the ‘Monocaster’ to reflect the decoration of the guitar with Andy’s black and white photographs.
Rocket 88 Books in the UK published a book of his short stories – Fretted and Moaning in 2021.
In 2023 Andy returned to Brazil with singer /bass player Rodrigo Santos of Red Baron (Barão Vermelho) and Joao Barone of the Paralamas do Sucesso in their trio, Call the Police, who played to sold out performances in South America. He has recorded The Police hit Bring on the Night with the Italian guitar group Forty Fingers and has recently released an instrumental version of Roxanne, the world wide hit of The Police.
Andy is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Guitar Player Hall of Fame, has the keys to New York City and has been awarded the Chevalier De L’Ordre Des Arts et Des Lettres by the Ministry of Culture in France.
In 2025, Andy continues touring the world with his hit multi-media show, The Cracked Lens and a Missing String.
