SEAN 'Diddy' Combs is forever in debt to Sting.
The hip-hop legend, 53, sampled Sting's 1983 single Every Breath You Take in his smash hit I'll Be Missing You from 1997, disclosing in a tweet that he pays the former The Police frontman US$5,000 (RM22,000) in royalties every day, in perpetuity.
"Love to my brother @OfficialSting," he added in the Twitter post alongside a resurfaced clip from the rocker's 2018 interview with The Breakfast Club – a New York City radio show – where he first spoke about the agreement, initially stating that he receives US$2,000 a day from Diddy.
In the footage, interviewer Charlamagne Tha God asks Sting if Diddy pays him US$2,000 per day for sampling the song on I'll Be Missing You. Sting responds yes, "for the rest of his life".
The 71-year-old artist says in the interview that the producer only sought for permission to sample the record after it was released. "We're now very good friends," he continues. "That was a beautiful version of that song."
A substantial portion of that daily US$5,000 is presumably going to Universal Music Publishing, which purchased the tune, along with most or all of Sting's song collection last year in a deal said to be worth over US$350 million. While the specifics of the agreement were not published, it appears that Sting retained at least part of the song's and the catalog's large publishing and/or songwriting shares.
The comprehensive worldwide agreement includes all of Sting's solo and Police work, including hits like Roxanne, Every Breath You Take, Shape Of My Heart, Desert Rose, Message in a Bottle, Englishman in New York, and Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, among many more.
Every Breath You Take, first released in May 1983, was the biggest hit by The Police, and topped the US charts for eight weeks that year, winning two Grammy Awards; it also achieved No. 1 in the UK, Canada, and numerous other countries, and was a Top 10 hit in several more.
I'll Be Missing You was written in memory of The Notorious B.I.G., who died in 1997 at the age of 24. Faith Evans, Diddy's ex-wife and mother to his 26-year-old son C.J. Wallace, joined Diddy on the tune, which also featured the R&B duo 112. Upon its release, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 list and earned Diddy honours for top rap artist and top rap song at the 1997 Billboard Music Awards.
Sting was initially not credited on the song and sued, but the problem was quickly settled. – The Vibes, April 7, 2023
