In late November 1976, while on tour with the British progressive rock band Curved Air in Newcastle upon Tyne, in the northeast of England, the band's American drummer, Stewart Copeland, met and exchanged phone numbers with ambitious singer-bassist (and former schoolteacher) Gordon Sumner a.k.a. Sting (so nicknamed because of his habit of wearing a black-and-yellow striped sweater resembling a wasp), who at the time was playing in a jazz-rock fusion band called Last Exit. On 12 January 1977, Sting relocated to London and, on the day of his arrival, sought out Copeland for a jam session.