Rose to fame in the early 1980’s as the guitarist of the multi-million record selling rock band – The Police. The Police were the number one band of the time and dominated the music scene and the media in the 80s with several number one records. Summers’ innovative guitar playing created a new paradigm for guitarists in this period and has been widely imitated ever since.
Prior to the Police, Summers’ played with various bands in the London scene, including The Animals, Soft Machine, Kevin Coyne and Kevin Ayers.
After the bands dramatic exit from the stage – and after literally being the number one rock band in the world for several years , Summers continued a prolific career as a solo artist, with many solo albums, photographic exhibitions, extensive touring and composing for film (including 2010, Down and Out in Beverly Hill.
Summers has never stopped recording, to date he has made many solo albums including tribute albums to both Thelonious Monk and Charles Mingus. 2015 was the release of Metal Dog. The enthusiasm and critical response for that record prompted Summers to work on Triboluminescence – in the style that he now ironically refers to as the New exotic…
Over the years Summers has collaborated with many fellow musicians as well as a number of fellow-guitarists, including Robert Fripp, John Etheridge, Victor Biglione, Benjamin Verdery, Roberto Menescal, Fernanda Takai, Rodrigo Santos and Joa Barone
In March 2005, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall playing the premiere of Dark Florescense, a concerto written for him and Verdery by the composer Ingram Marshall.
In 2006 his memoir One Train Later was released to great success and was voted the number one music book of the year in the UK by Mojo Magazine. The documentary film Can’t Stand Losing You based on the book was produced by the Yari Film Group and was released in North America in 2015 by Cinema Libre Studio.
In 2007/8 The Police reunited for a fantastically successful world tour and in fact was the third highest grossing tour of all time.
Summers has been a dedicated photographer since the early days of The Police, and has published four books of his photographs many of which are featured in the film Can’t Stand Losing You. Exhibitions of his photos have taken place across the globe and within the last year at the Leica gallery in Los Angeles, Paris/LA Photo Show, Kunst.Licht gallery in Shanghai, CCC gallery in Beijing and Photokina in Cologne Germany. Leica Sao Paulo in August 2015, Leica Milan April 2016, and Leica los Angeles in July/September 2016.
In September 2016 Andy received the Prog Guiding Light award.
Recent projects include: the album Circus Hero from his band Circa Zero, which was released in April 2014. During 2015 he composed the score for the Turkish film And the Circus Leaves Town and finished a new CD, as well as making several appearances in the US in support of the theatrical release of Can’t Stand Losing You.
2017 was the Steidl publication of The Bones of Chuang Tzu – which featured Andy’s photography from several journeys in China. In January 2017, he receive the Roland Corporation Life Time achievement award. This year Leica will release the Andy Summers Signature Leica camera and Fender will release a special edition guitar designed by Summers.
Summers is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Guitar Player Hall of Fame, has the keys to New York City, five Grammys an honorary doctorate and has been awarded the Chevalier De L’Ordre Des Arts et Des Lettres by the government of France.
He lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Kate, and has three children, all of whom were able to finally see their father perform during the 2007/8 Reunion tour.