''Sacred Love'' is the seventh studio album by Sting. The album was released on 29 September 2003. The album featured smoother, R&B-style beats and experiments collaborating with hip-hop artist

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

and

sitar The sitar ( or ; ) is a plucked stringed instrument, originating from the Indian subcontinent, used in Hindustani classical music. The instrument was invented in medieval India, flourished in the 18th century, and arrived at its present form ...

player

Anoushka Shankar Anoushka Shankar (born 9 June 1981) is a British-American sitar player, producer, film composer and activist. She was the youngest and first woman to receive a British House of Commons Shield; she has had 7 Grammy Awards nominations and was the ...

. Some songs like "Inside" and "Dead Man's Rope" were well received; and Sting had experimented with new sounds, in particular the more

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

-influenced "This War". Sting adapted the first quatrain of

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

's ''

Auguries of Innocence "Auguries of Innocence" is a poem by William Blake, from a notebook of his now known as the Pickering Manuscript.Encyclopædia Britannica Online.The Pickering Manuscript" Online. Accessed 13 December 2010. It is assumed to have been written in 1 ...

'' for the first four sung lines of "Send Your Love". Sting's collaboration with Blige, "

Whenever I Say Your Name "Whenever I Say Your Name" is a duet by English musician Sting and American singer Mary J. Blige. It serves as the second single from Sting's seventh studio album ''Sacred Love'' (2003). It was not originally included on Blige's sixth studio alb ...

", won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the

46th Grammy Awards The 46th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 8, 2004 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California honoring the best in music for the recording of the year beginning from October 1, 2002 through September 30, 2003. They recognized ac ...

in 2004. The first single "Send Your Love" was also nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was a Grammy Award recognizing superior vocal performance by a male in the pop category, the first of which was presented in 1959. It was discontinued after the 2011 Grammy season. The award wen ...

, but it lost to " Cry Me a River" by Justin Timberlake. In August 2015,

Mylène Farmer Mylène Jeanne Gautier (; born 12 September 1961), known professionally as Mylène Farmer (), is a Canadian-born French singer, songwriter, occasional actress, writer, and entrepreneur. Having sold more than 30 million records in France, she is ...

and Sting duetted on ''Stolen Car'' and released it as the lead single from Farmer's tenth studio album, ''

Interstellaires ''Interstellaires'' is the tenth studio album by French singer-songwriter Mylène Farmer. It was released on 6 November 2015 in France by Polydor Records. It is produced by Martin Kierszenbaum and The Avener. Singles On 18 August 2015, a new ...

''; the track is produced by

The Avener Tristan Casara (born 23 January 1987), known by his stage name The Avener (), is a French deep house and electro DJ and music producer from Nice. He is best known for his 2014 single " Fade Out Lines", a deep house rework of "The Fade Out Lin ...

.http://www.mylene.net/modules/index.php?r=4&z=4325

Track listing

All tracks written by Sting. All tracks produced by Sting and

Kipper A kipper is a whole herring, a small, oily fish, that has been split in a butterfly fashion from tail to head along the dorsal ridge, gutted, salted or pickled, and cold-smoked over smouldering wood chips (typically oak). In the United Ki ...

; co-production on "Send Your Love" by

Victor Calderone Victor Calderone (born March 20, 1967 in Brooklyn, New York, United States) is an American electronic music producer, DJ and remixer. Biography Raised in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, Calderone was introduced into New York City's nightlif ...

, and "Never Coming Home" by BT.

Bonus tracks

There have been multiple editions of this album. Some of them, such as the Japanese edition, feature various extra songs and remixes. Although the track list on the officia
Sting website
includes a remix of "Send Your Love" and a live version of "Shape of My Heart", these are not always available. Depending on the edition, the following bonus tracks may be included: *"Send Your Love (

Dave Audé Dave Audé (born Oct 12, 1969) is an American DJ, producer and remixer. He operates his own label Audacious Records, and is known for having more number ones than any other producer on the ''Billboard'' Dance Club Songs chart. He has done prod ...

Remix)" – 3:16 *"Shape of My Heart" (Live) – 2:18 *"Like a Beautiful Smile" – 4:46 *"Moon over Bourbon Street (Cornelius Mix)"

Remix tracks

*"Send Your Love (radio edit)" – 3:38 *"Send Your Love (Calderone & Quayle radio mix)" also called "(

Mac Quayle Mac Quayle is an American composer for film, television and video games, best known for his work on the USA Network's ''Mr. Robot'' and for FX's ''American Horror Story''. Quayle was born in Suffolk, Virginia, but moved around the state, living ...

's Radio Mix)" – 4:05 *"Send Your Love (Calderone & Quayle radio dub mix)" also called "(Victor Calderone & Mac Quayle's Dub Mix)" – 7:34 *"Send Your Love (Calderone + Quayle future mix)" also called "(Victor Calderone & Mac Quayle's Future Mix)" – 9:50 *"Send Your Love (Dave Aude remix - vocal edit)" – 3:17 *"Send Your Love (Dave Aude's Extended Vocal Mix)" – 6:34 *"Send Your Love (Minge Binge electric mix)" – 7:34 *"Send Your Love (Dave Aude' Massive Dub)" – 8:12 *"Send Your Love (Minge Binge Sex & Music Dub)" – 6:32 *"Send Your Love (Josh Wink Deeper Vocal Interpretation)" – 9:01 *"Send Your Love (Josh Wink Minimal Interpretation)" – 8:44 *"Whenever I Say Your Name (radio edit)" – 3:41 *"Whenever I Say Your Name (radio edit 1)" – 4:02 *"Whenever I Say Your Name (will.i.am remix featuring Black Eyed Peas)" – 4:02 *"Whenever I Say Your Name (Salaam's Groove Mix)" *"Whenever I Say Your Name (Billy Mann mix)" *"Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing) (Radio Version)" – 3:40 *"Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing) (remix featuring will.i.am from The Black Eyed Peas)" – 4:05 *"Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing) (B. Recluse Remix featuring Twista)" – 3:03 *"Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing) (B. Recluse mix instrumental)" *"Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing) (Dave Aude's Extended Vocal Mix)" – 7:26 *"Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing) (Dave Aude's Vocal Edit)" – 4:05 *"Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing) (Richard "Humpty" Vission Big Floor Funk Mix)" – 6:28 *"Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing) (Dave Aude's Funk Dub Mix)" – 7:29 *"Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing) (Dave Aude's Haunting Dub Mix)" – 8:40 *"Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing) (Richard "Humpty" Vission Acidic Groove Mix)" – 6:13 *"Moon over Bourbon Street (Cornelius mix instrumental)"

Personnel

* Sting – vocals, keyboards, guitars, bass (1-10, 12), Turkish clarinet *

Dominic Miller Dominic James Miller (born 21 March 1960) is an Argentine-born guitarist. With much of his career as a sideman and guitarist for singer Sting, he has also released several solo albums. Career Miller was born in Hurlingham, Argentina to an Iris ...

– guitars *

Vicente Amigo Vicente Amigo Girol (born 25 March 1967) is a Spanish flamenco composer and guitarist, born in Guadalcanal near Seville. He has played as an accompanying guitarist on recordings by flamenco singers Camarón de la Isla, and Luis de Córdoba, an ...

–

flamenco guitar A flamenco guitar is a guitar similar to a classical guitar but with thinner tops and less internal bracing. It usually has nylon strings, like the classical guitar, but it generally possesses a livelier, more gritty sound compared to the clas ...

(2) *

–

(9) * Danny Dunlap – bass (11) *

Christian McBride Christian McBride (born May 31, 1972) is an American jazz bassist, composer and arranger. He has appeared on more than 300 recordings as a sideman, and is an eight-time Grammy Award winner. McBride has performed and recorded with a number of j ...

–

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox additions such as the octobass). Similar i ...

* Jacqueline Thomas –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

– keyboards, programming, backing vocals * David Hartley – piano and choir arrangements *

Jason Rebello Jason Matthew Rebello (born 29 March 1969) is a British pianist, songwriter, and record producer. Career Rebello was born in Carshalton, Surrey. His father's family is from India. Rebello was raised a Catholic in Wandsworth, London. He was cl ...

– acoustic piano, Rhodes piano * Jeff Young – Hammond organ *

Manu Katché Manu Katché (born 27 October 1958) is a French drummer and songwriter of Ivorian descent. He has worked extensively as a session musician, notably with Sting and Peter Gabriel, and his solo albums as a bandleader are largely in the jazz fusion ...

– drums *

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the '' Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Cola ...

– drums * Rhani Krija – percussion * Valerie Denys –

castanets Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument (idiophone), used in Spanish, Kalo, Moorish, Ottoman, Italian, Sephardic, Swiss, and Portuguese music. In ancient Greece and ancient Rome there was a simil ...

* Aref Durvesh –

tabla A tabla, bn, তবলা, prs, طبلا, gu, તબલા, hi, तबला, kn, ತಬಲಾ, ml, തബല, mr, तबला, ne, तबला, or, ତବଲା, ps, طبله, pa, ਤਬਲਾ, ta, தபலா, te, తబల� ...

* Levon Minassian – duduk * Clark Gayton – trombone *

Chris Botti Christopher Stephen Botti ( ; born October 12, 1962) is an award-winning American trumpeter and composer. In 2013, Botti won the Grammy Award in the Best Pop Instrumental Album category, for the album ''Impressions''. He was also nominated in ...

– trumpet *

– lead vocals (3) * Katreese Barnes – backing vocals * Ada Dyer – backing vocals * Lance Ellington – backing vocals * Donna Gardier – backing vocals * Joy Rose – featured and backing vocals * Bahija Rhapl – ethnic vocals * Choeur de Radio France – choir * Philip White – associate chorus master

Technical credits

* Simon Osborne – recording, mixing * Steve Miller – mix engineer (11) * Peter "Hopps" Lorimer – assistant engineer * Donal Hodgson –

Pro Tools Pro Tools is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed and released by Avid Technology (formerly Digidesign) for Microsoft Windows and macOS. It is used for music creation and production, sound for picture ( sound design, audio post-produ ...

engineer and programming * Claudius Mittendorfer – technical assistant *

Charlie Paakkari Christina Paakkari, also known as Charlie Paakkari, is an American audio engineer for Capitol Records and the recipient of a 2005 Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the ...

– technical assistant * Rodolphe Plisson – technical assistant *

– remixing and additional production (11) * Chris Blair – stereo mastering * Peter Mew – 5.1 mastering * Danny Quatrochi – personal technician * Recorded at Studio Mega (Paris, France);

The Hit Factory The Hit Factory is a recording studio in New York City owned and operated by Troy Germano. History On March 6, 1975, Edward Germano, a singer, record producer, and one of the principal owners of the Record Plant Studios New York, purchased the ...

(New York City, New York); Capitol Studios (Hollywood, California). * Mastered at Abbey Road Studios (London, UK).

Production credits

* Martin Kierszenbaum – A&R * Andrea Ruffalo – A&R coordinator * Tam Fairgrieve – production manager * Richard Frankel – package design * Paolo Roversi – photography * Kathryn Schenker – management

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

External links

* {{Authority control Sting (musician) albums 2003 albums A&M Records albums Albums produced by Kipper (musician) Albums recorded at Capitol Studios