Joe Sumner

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Joe Sumner
Joe Sumner opening for The Police in 2007
Sumner with Fiction Plane opening for The Police at Madison Square Garden, New York, 1 August 2007 (photo Lionel Urman)
Background information
Birth nameJoseph Sumner
Born (1976-11-23) 23 November 1976 (age 44)
OriginLondon, England
Genres
Occupation(s)Musician, singer-songwriter, app developer
InstrumentsVocals, bass
Years active1999–present
Labels
Associated acts

Joseph Sumner (born 23 November 1976) is an English 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.[1]

Personal life[edit]

Joe Sumner is the son of the musician Sting and Northern Irish actress Frances Tomelty. He is the brother of Fuschia Katherine ("Kate") and half-brother of musician Eliot Sumner[2] and actress Mickey Sumner, who are the daughters of Sting and actress Trudie Styler.

Career[edit]

Music[edit]

Sumner 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.[3]

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.[4]

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.

Entrepreneur[edit]

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.

The app united social media with individual video recording. Several people could film an event simultaneously with their smartphones, then upload their clips with Vyclone software, which assembles the clips into a movie shown from multiple angles. The app invited a variety of uses beyond filming concerts.[5][6] The app was switched off in 2016.[7]

He is the founder of NPSL soccer team City Of Angels FC.[8]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Valcourt, Keith. "Fiction Plane's Joe Sumner: The Sting of his family name". Washington Times. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  2. ^ Cohen, Jonathan. "Fiction Plane Resumes Flight With New Album". Billboard. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  3. ^ Henderson, Alex. "Fiction Plane | Biography & History | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  4. ^ "Fiction Plane Prepares For Takeoff". Billboard. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  5. ^ MacMillan, Douglas. "Joe Sumner: Synchronizing Crowdsourced Movies". Bloomberg. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  6. ^ Metz, Rachel. "Using Your Smart Phone to Mix Video Clips with Others". Technology Review. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  7. ^ Maffei, Lucia (7 July 2016). "Vyclone hits the deadpool". Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  8. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)