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Sting is, and always will be, one of the most divisive men in rock. A tantric sex-loving artiste, there are many things that have made him so hated by some, including his music. Yet, despite personal taste, no one can seriously doubt his prowess as a composer. With his band The Police, before he got too pretentious for his own good, he penned an array of classics, but the ballad ‘Every Breath You Take’ is their most successful, a Grammy-winning, number one hit, that was by all accounts, the song of 1983.

Written about a possessive lover on James Bond author Ian Fleming’s Goldeneye estate in Jamaica, Sting has always maintained that there is more to it than people think. It might appear like a classic love song, which he has admitted is a musical “aggregate” of many others, but lyrically, it’s sinister, prompted by the songwriter’s thoughts on surveillance, control and George Orwell’s Big Brother.

Regardless of what Sting says about the song’s essence, it is widely deemed a love song. This tender nature meant that after widely influential rap star The Notorious B.I.G. was murdered in March 1997, Diddy – who was then known as Puff Daddy – released ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ as a tribute to his fallen friend and Bad Boy Records peer. It also features Biggie’s widow, Faith Evans, and R&B group 112. A global number one hit, it sampled ‘Every Breath You Take’, with an interpolated chorus sung by Evans and interpolated rhythm. It also used the 1929 hymn ‘I’ll Fly Away’ and a choral version of ‘Adagio for Strings’.

An immense success, it spent 11 weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, won the Grammy for ‘Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group’ and became one of the best-selling singles ever.

However, conjecture has surrounded ‘Every Breath You Take’ and ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ for years. As Diddy – real name Sean Combs, who is currently facing numerous sexual assault allegations – did not secure legal approval before using The Police sample, it was reported that Sting sued him, receiving 100% of the song royalties, with payments allegedly in place until 2053.

As an intriguing side note, the band’s guitarist, Andy Summers, told The A.V. Club that the song is “a major rip-off” and knew nothing about it until he first heard it on the radio. He’s the only Police member who features on Diddy’s hit, with his guitar line the sampled part.

The legal issues must have been resolved pretty quickly, as in September 1997, Sting performed ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ with Diddy, Evans and 112 at the MTV Video Music Awards. At the onset of the next decade, he claimed that the settlement made him even more wealthy and that he had paid for his kids’ education. 

Sting prompted much surprise during a 2018 appearance on The Breakfast Club when he claimed he receives $2,000 a day from Diddy for using his 1983 classic. Looking very pleased with himself, the spikey-haired reggae lover maintained that there was now, unsurprisingly, no bad blood between the two. He asserted that the pair are even very good friends, describing what Diddy did with his composition as “beautiful.”

Later, in April 2023, when the clip resurfaced online, Diddy responded to Sting’s comments, claiming that he paid him more than $2,000 every 24 hours. He wrote on Twitter: “Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting!”

Well, according to the under-fire rap mogul, it was all a rouse. Diddy had never paid his friend daily for the song, and plus, he probably makes much more than that from it every day anyway.

He wrote on Twitter two days later: “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.”