Prior to starting his solo career, he was the principal songwriter, lead singer and bassist of the rock music band The Police. As a solo musician and member of The Police, Sting has received sixteen Grammy Awards for his work, receiving his first Grammy for Best Rock Instrumental Performance in 1981, and receiving an Oscar nomination for best song. He is a member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame. His body of work spanning nearly 25 years and embracing not only rock and reggae but also jazz, country, Celtic and Middle Eastern strains, Sting fashions a soundtrack for our times. Often noted for his work in the field of human rights, Sting views his activism as part and parcel to being a citizen of the planet. He remains active in causes as various as ecology (with his wife,Trudie Styler, Sting founded the Rainforest Foundation), Amnesty International and human rights as a whole. For him, the personal and political fuse; art and action become inextricable.