Joe Sumner

Joe Sumner
Joe Sumner opening for the Police in 2007
Sumner performing with Fiction Plane in 2007
Background information
Birth nameJoseph Sumner
Born (1976-11-23) 23 November 1976 (age 47)
OriginLondon, England
Genres
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • musician
  • app developer
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • bass guitar
Years active1999–present

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]

Career

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Music

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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.[2]

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.[3]

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.

In 2019, he released a self-titled album with the band The Euphoriants, which included Scrote and Blair Sinta. They received a good amount of airplay for their single, "Colorful Crimes."

In 2020 his song 'Hope' was performed by numerous vocalists as part of a get out the vote campaign for the Biden/Harris ticket. He put out the singles "You You You" in 2021 and "Looking For Me Looking For You" in 2022 and plans to release his first solo album, Sunshine In The Night, in the fall of 2023.

Entrepreneur

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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.[4][5] The app was switched off in 2016.[6]

He is the founder of NPSL soccer team City of Angels FC.[7]

Personal life

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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[8] and actress Mickey Sumner, who are children of Sting and actress Trudie Styler.

He married on 4 December 2011. He has three daughters and one son.

References

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  1. ^ Valcourt, Keith. "Fiction Plane's Joe Sumner: The Sting of his family name". Washington Times. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  2. ^ Henderson, Alex. "Fiction Plane | Biography & History | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  3. ^ "Fiction Plane Prepares For Takeoff". Billboard. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  4. ^ MacMillan, Douglas (20 July 2012). "Joe Sumner: Synchronizing Crowdsourced Movies". Bloomberg. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  5. ^ Metz, Rachel. "Using Your Smart Phone to Mix Video Clips with Others". Technology Review. Retrieved 26 May 2016.
  6. ^ Maffei, Lucia (7 July 2016). "Vyclone hits the deadpool". Retrieved 13 March 2017.
  7. ^ "City of Angels FC Joins the NPSL". Archived from the original on 22 December 2016. Retrieved 22 December 2016.
  8. ^ Cohen, Jonathan. "Fiction Plane Resumes Flight With New Album". Billboard. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
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