The Police was a British rock band formed in London in the late 1970s around Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland. Their music blended rock, new wave, reggae, punk and pop, with a distinctive rhythmic identity, sparse guitar work and songwriting that was often both melodic and tense. With albums such as Reggatta de Blanc, Zenyatta Mondatta and Synchronicity, The Police became one of the most popular and influential bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s.