Sting on a winter's night

What should pop stars do when their white-heat moment of public adoration has gone? If they have genuine musical talent, and aren't manufactured for fame due to their looks and personality, then Sting isn't a bad model to follow.

Pre-Police, Sting was a jobbing musician working in the gaps between musical genres in Wallsend-upon-Tyne. As the front man for The Police and in the immediate post-group period, Sting was a megastar capable of selling out huge venues.

And now? The fame he found in the early 1980s opens doors to follow his own musical path without worrying unduly about chart success.

From the evidence of a BBC One bio-documentary, featuring his new project If on a Winter's Night, Sting has returned to his North-Eastern roots, and still prefers to explore the gaps between pop, rock, jazz, folk, gospel and the rest.

I doubt a 'where are they now' article in 2040 will feature the likes of Joe McElderry, Leon Jackson, and even Leona Lewis on television talking about their forthcoming concert in Durham Cathedral or any other Anglican edifice.