UK’s biggest choir bans Every Breath You Take after concerns over ‘impact’ on singers-Danni Scott-Entertainment – Metro

Every Breath You Take has been banned by the UK’s biggest choir (Picture: Andrew Toth/Getty Images for iHeartMedia)

A huge UK choir has made the ‘difficult decision’ to remove The Police’s Every Breath You Take from their repertoire.

The 1983 track, written by frontman Sting, became the band’s biggest hit, reaching number one across the UK and US charts.

It has faced criticism in more recent years for seeming to depict the perspective of someone stalking a love interest.

Songwriter Sting has denied this intention, saying it was more about being in the public eye and facing surveillance, control and Big Brother effect.

Despite this, the founder of Rock Choir, Caroline Redman Lusher, sent out a letter to the choir’s over 31,000 members to confirm it would be removed from sets.

This was after concern about the ‘negative and challenging’ impact on the members due to the song’s undertones.

This is the first time Rock Choir has ever banned a song (Picture: Mark Kerrison/In Pictures via Getty Images)

She wrote in a letter, seen by Far Out, that ‘after much thought and discussion with some of the team, I have made the difficult decision to remove Every Breath You Take from the repertoire.

‘I have never removed a song before now but due to the impact the narrative is having on some Rockies and the potential – when it is taught – of more negative and challenging feelings from the wider membership, I feel it would be wise to replace the song.’

Rock Choir has over 400 communities across the UK, and Caroline was awarded an MBE for her services to music and charitable work in the recent New Year Honours.

In 2019, Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) recognised Every Breath You Take as the most-played song in radio history.

It is The Police’s biggest song, estimated to generate around a quarter of Sting’s song royalties due to its huge amount of plays and sampling.

The Police released the huge track in 1983 (Picture: John Rodgers/Redferns)

It is their biggest song bringing songwriter Sting an eyewatering revenue (Picture: HELLE ARENSBAK/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images)

The 73-year-old singer has also claimed he rakes in $2,000 (£1,600) per day from the track after Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sampled it without permission.

His single, I’ll Be Missing You with Faith Evans, was released in 1997 but The Police did not approve the use of the song.

During an appearance on The Breakfast Club, Sting was questioned about the sample and explained that he gets $2k per day for the rest of the producer’s life.

Combs reportedly did ask for permission afterwards and later wrote on social media: ‘Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting!’

He then added: ‘I want y’all to understand I was joking! 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. LOVE.’

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