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

hip-hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hi ...

artist

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Qu ...

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 the 18th century, and arrived at its present form in 19th-century India. Khusrau K ...

player

Anoushka Shankar Anoushka Hemangini Shankar (born 9 June 1981) is a British-American sitar player and musician of Indian descent, as well as occasional writer. She performs across multiple genres and styles—Indian classical, classical and contemporary, acoust ...

. 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 Wale ...

-influenced "This War".

Background

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 has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

's '' Auguries of Innocence'' 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 recorded by English musician Sting (musician), Sting and American singer Mary J. Blige, for Sting's seventh studio album ''Sacred Love'' (2003). It was written and produced by Sting, and co-produced by Kipper ( ...

", won the

Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals The Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality pop songs on which singers ...

at the 46th Grammy Awards 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 Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and dancer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Pop", ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' honored him as the b ...

. In August 2015,

Mylène Farmer Mylène Jeanne Gautier (; born 12 September 1961), known professionally as Mylène Farmer (), is a French singer and songwriter. Having sold more than 30 million records worldwide, she is among the most successful recording artists of all time ...

and Sting duetted on " Stolen Car (Take Me Dancing)" and released it as the lead single from Farmer's tenth studio album, '' Interstellaires''; the track is produced by The Avener.

Track listing

All tracks written by Sting. All tracks produced by Sting and Kipper; co-production on "Send Your Love" by Victor Calderone, 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 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 "( Victor Calderone & Mac Quayle'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 * Kipper – 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, England. His father's family is from India. Rebello was raised a Catholic in Wandsworth, London. H ...

– acoustic piano, Rhodes electric piano * Jeff Young –

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

* Dominic Miller – guitars * Vicente Amigo – flamenco guitar (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 400 recordings as a sideman, and is a nine-time Grammy Award winner. McBride has performed and recorded with a number of jaz ...

–

double bass The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...

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 fusio ...

– drums *

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer known for his technical mastery 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 Drumme ...

– drums * Rhani Krija – percussion * Valerie Denys –

castanets Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument ( idiophonic), used in Spanish, Calé, Moorish, Ottoman, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Sephardic, Portuguese, Filipino, Brazilian, and Swiss music. In ancient ...

* Aref Durvesh –

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

* Levon Minassian –

duduk The duduk ( ; ) or tsiranapogh (, meaning "apricot-made wind instrument"), is a double reed woodwind instrument made of apricot wood originating from Armenia. Variations of the Armenian duduk appear throughout the Caucasus, the Balkans, and the ...

* Clark Gayton – trombone *

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

– trumpet * Jacqueline Thomas – cello *

– 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-productio ...

engineer and programming * Claudius Mittendorfer – technical assistant * Charlie Paakkari – technical assistant * Rodolphe Plisson – technical assistant * Dave Audé – 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 In 1969, songwriter Jerry Ragavoy opened a recording studio in New York City and named it ''The Hit Factory.'' On March 6, 1975, Edward Germano, ...

(New York City, New York); Capitol Studios (Hollywood, California). * Mastered at

Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...

(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