PremiumGrammy winners Ricky Kej and Stewart Copeland unveil 'top-secret project' involving The Police
Ricky Kej and Stewart Copeland previously collaborated on the album Divine Tides, which won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album
Last Updated: 01.17 PM, Aug 05, 2023
Three-time Grammy Award winner Ricky Kej is celebrating his birthday today (August 5). And the musician is thrilled to announce a "top-secret project" that he and fellow Grammy winner Stewart Copeland have been working on for the past year.
As Ricky turns 42, he announced his new album with Stewart, titled Police - Beyond Borders. The new album features their version of some of the most iconic songs of the legendary band The Police, of which Stewart is the founder and drummer.
Ricky and Stewart have previously collaborated on the album Divine Tides, which won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. Ricky earlier won Grammys in 2022 and 2015 for Best New Age Album for Divine Tides and Winds of Samsara, respectively.
Ricky and Stewart have gone all-out on their new album, For Police - Beyond Borders, by collaborating with orchestras, singers, choirs, instrumentalists, and ensembles from around the world. They have recreated the magic of timeless classics in global languages such as Hindi, Zulu, Mandarin, Kannada, Armenian, Pashto, Urdu, and more in what Ricky calls an "epic format".
The album features their take on the songs King of Pain, Roxanne, Message in a Bottle, Tea in the Sahara, Don't Stand so Close to Me, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, Can't Stand Losing You, Murder By Numbers, Demolition Man, and Every Breath You Take.
The album is slated to be released later this month.
Speaking about the songs, Stewart said, "The flavours of all these amazing languages on Police - Beyond Borders light up these tunes that are so familiar. The Police were always a global band, and Sting wrote songs about the bigger picture of humanity. Music brings us together, and my humble hope is that this record can contribute to that special human bonding experience that we need now more than ever."
Speaking about the new album, Ricky said, "It is a huge honour to collaborate with Stewart Copeland yet again. These are songs that I have grown up listening to and that have shaped my career. I have paid a lot of respect to their legacy, and I can't wait to share this album with you later this month."
Shedding light on how the album took shape, Stewart said that it was all Ricky's idea. "It was Ricky Kej who suggested that we make an album out of The Police Derangements, and it was a lightbulb moment. The idea of hearing these songs in global languages was immediately inspiring, and Ricky set about finding the magnificent talents on this record. The music that Sting, Andy, and I created with The Police essentially derives from Black culture, and it was particularly spine-tingling to hear that culture arriving back in Africa with Every Breath You Take sung in Zulu," said Stewart.
Ricky Kej is a thr ee-time Grammy Award-winning and three-time Grammy nominated music composer and environmentalist.