Sting is in talks to re-form The Police and tour with the group - 30 years after they were formed.
The band, who rank alongside The Rolling Stones and The Beatles among the greats of rock, are considering playing a series of dates in the UK next summer.
Consisting of Sting on bass and vocals, drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers, the group have been in discussions for months.
They became one of the biggest bands of the Eighties with hits including Walking On The Moon, Every Breath You Take, Don't Stand So Close To Me and Message In A Bottle.
News that they are re-forming will surprise fans as Sting, 55, has always resolutely opposed the move in the past.
Sources say rehearsals have been pencilled in to take place before Sting begins the February leg of his latest European tour and after Copeland has finished his stint as a judge in the BBC celebrity duet show Just The Two Of Us.
The record label, A&M, is believed to be planning a special anniversary release in June and the tour dates would coincide with that.
A source said: 'They were intending to announce it in January after all the tour dates had been finalised.
'They are speaking to venues about booking dates in May and June. Everyone who knows about it is incredibly excited because they were a legendary band.'
A spokeswoman for A&M confirmed discussions had taken place but denied there were any firm dates for concerts.
The Police are a three-piece rock band consisting of Sting (vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar, vocals) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion, vocals). The band became globally popular in the early 1980s, playing a style of rock that was influenced by jazz, reggae, ska, and punk music. Their 1983 album, Synchronicity, was number one in the UK and the US and sold over 8,000,000 copies in the US. The band broke up in the mid-1980s, but reunited in early 2007 with the announcement that they were undertaking a world tour. The tour was scheduled from the middle of that year on until mid-2008, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of their hit single "Roxanne" and also, to a lesser extent, that of their formation as a group. To date The Police have sold over 50 million albums worldwide. Rolling Stone ranked The Police number 70 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[1]
