Joe Sumner | |
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Sumner with Fiction Plane opening for The Police at Madison Square Garden, New York, 1 August 2007 (photo Lionel Urman)
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Background information | |
Birth name | Joseph Sumner |
Origin | London, England |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Musician, singer-songwriter, app developer |
Instruments | Vocals, bass |
Years active | 1999–present |
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Associated acts | |
Website | fictionplane |
Joe Sumner (born November 23, 1976) is a singer-songwriter and bassist for the rock band Fiction Plane, and co-founder of the company Vyclone, which made an app for recording video from multiple angles. He is also the founder of NPSL soccer team City Of Angels FC
Sumner, a native of England, learned to play guitar and drums when he was a teenager, and was inspired to write songs when he heard Nirvana's album Nevermind. He formed a band with a school friend, bassist Dan Brown, which eventually became Fiction Plane when it was joined by British guitarist Seton Daunt.
Fiction Plane recorded its first album, Everything Will Never Be OK (2003), without a full-time drummer, relying instead on session musician Abe Laboriel Jr. Soon after, Fiction Plane hired drummer Pete Wilhoit, a native of Indiana.
After that album, Fiction Plane released Bitter Forces and Lame Race Horses (2005), Left Side of the Brain (2007), Paradiso (2009), Sparks (2010), and Mondo Lumina (2015). The band received much attention when it was the opening act for The Police's reunion tour in 2007.
Joe Sumner is the son of Sting, The Police's lead singer and bassist. He is the half-brother of musician Eliot Sumner and actress Mickey Sumner (who are the daughters of Sting and actress Trudie Styler).
In 2010, the day after performing a concert, Sumner found videos of the show on YouTube that fans had filmed with their smartphones. Speculating that fans' clips could be linked into an interesting compilation, he co-founded the company Vyclone with David King Lassman to create a product of the same name.