Strontium 90 were a short-lived British band active in 1977 whose members were

Mike Howlett Michael John Gilmour Howlett (born 27 April 1950) is a record producer and teacher based in the United Kingdom and Australia. Career In the late 1960s, Howlett was the bassist in Sydney pop band the Affair, which included vocalist Kerrie Bidde ...

(bass, vocals) from the band

Gong A gongFrom Indonesian and ms, gong; jv, ꦒꦺꦴꦁ ; zh, c=鑼, p=luó; ja, , dora; km, គង ; th, ฆ้อง ; vi, cồng chiêng; as, কাঁহ is a percussion instrument originating in East Asia and Southeast Asia. Gongs ...

, Sting (vocals, guitar, bass),

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...

(drums), and

Andy Summers Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942), is an English guitarist who was a member of the rock band The Police. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2003. Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated w ...

(guitar). The band is most notable for introducing Summers to Sting and Copeland, who as a trio would go on to massive success as

the Police The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police ...

. Strontium 90 was formed in mid-1977 by Howlett after he quit

and recruited Sting and Summers to participate in a new project.

Chris Cutler Chris Cutler (born 4 January 1947) is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, Ne ...

was unavailable to play drums, so Sting brought along Copeland, with whom he had been playing in an early lineup of the Police. Strontium 90 recorded several demo tracks at Virtual Earth Studios, and then performed at a Gong reunion concert in Paris on 28 May 1977. An album with some of these studio and live tracks was released in 1997 under the name '' Strontium 90: Police Academy'' on

Ark 21 Records Ark 21 Records was a record label established by Miles & Stewart Copeland in 1997, based in Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California, United States. Artists *Kathem Al-Saher * Ragheb Alamah *Aswad *The Badlees *The Beautiful South * John Berry *Be ...

. The foursome also performed at a London club as The Elevators in July 1977.

Footnotes

References

* Mike Howlett, "Police Academy" album sleeve notes, Pangaea Records, 1997. * Sting, ''Broken Music'', Simon & Schuster, 2003. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Strontium 90 The Police Musical quartets Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups disestablished in 1977 Musical groups from London English rock music groups English new wave musical groups 1977 establishments in England 1977 disestablishments in England