Legendary singer Sting stopped by On Air With Ryan Seacrest on Tuesday, January 14. The icon shared the deeply personal story behind play The Last Ship and also his thoughts on "Roxanne"-influenced tracks including Arizona Zervasโ latest hit.
โI love novelty. I hate just doing the same thing,โ Sting prefaced of his Tony Award-nominated musical inspired by the shipyard culture of his native Newcastle, England. โโฆ The play Iโm doing, itโs just an adventure. Itโs the most risky; the most challenging; the most daunting; but the most exciting so Iโm always looking for a novelty.โ
Sting explained that his childhood inspired the story behind The Last Ship.
โI would think as a kid that would be my destiny,โ he continued of the inspiration. โ[That] I would end up in the shipyard. It was the last thing that I wanted; it was dark and dangerous โ terrible health and safety record โ so I did everything in my power to escape it. โฆ But, I realize I was ideally placed to tell the story of my town, what happened to it. So itโs really about what happens to a town when the industry closes down so I think itโs a very topical subject for now.โ
The English musician and actor added that it was also โthe engine that droveโ his ambition and โdesire to escape.โ
โBut,โ he added. โThen having succeeded, I realized I owed it debt โฆ to my community. I wanted to honor them and tell their story the best I could so I feel Iโve done that to a certain extent.โ
Watch back the full interview in the video above for more, including to hear how Sting feels about โRoxanneโ-influenced tracks including the latest hit by Arizona Zervas and how Sisanie has a connection to the singer.
Click here for The Last Ship ticket information.