2002 was a busy year for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In addition to their weekly Music & the Spoken Word broadcasts, Christmas concerts, and general conference appearances, they also performed numerous times during the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games.

During the opening ceremony at the 2002 Winter Olympics, they joined 16-time GRAMMY Award winner Sting, who was the lead singer and bassist of The Police prior to embarking on a career as a solo musician, along with Yo-Yo Ma for a performance of the song “Fragile” in Rice-Eccles Stadium on February 8, 2002. 

Sting only had positive things to say about working with the Choir: "I obviously knew the reputation of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but I'd never experienced it.” Of the rehearsals he says, "I began the song, and then this sound filled the room, this vibration filled the room. I turned to the director and said, ‘I've never heard human beings sound this way.’”

In the early 1970s, Sting worked as a schoolteacher and performed in local jazz bands at night. In 1977, he formed The Police with Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers. The band went on to release five chart-topping albums, earned six GRAMMY Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. Their biggest hit, “Every Breath You Take,” came from their final album Synchronicity, which was released in 1983. Since then, Sting has released 11 studio albums and has earned numerous accolades including an additional 10 GRAMMY Awards, a Golden Globe, an Emmy® and three Oscar nominations. His Latest album,The Last Ship, is inspired by his memories of the seafaring town of Wallsend in the North East of England where he was born and raised. A play of the same name, with music and lyrics by Sting and book by John Logan and Brian Yorkey, premiered in Chicago at the Bank of America Theater on June 10, 2014. In September, 2014 the show debuted on Broadway with previews at the Neil Simon Theatre. 

In a documentary titled America’s Choir: The Story of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Sting said these thoughtful words about the Choir: “Yes, they sing in tune; yes, they’re technically a wonderful choir, but I think the bedrock of that is their belief.”

For more information on Sting, visit www.sting.com.

Photo credit: Kevin Mazur