Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942) is an English guitarist best known as a member of the rock band the Police.

[1] Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated with other musicians, composed film scores, written fiction, and exhibited his photography in galleries.

[4] In his teens he played jazz guitar and was influenced by Kenny Burrell, Jimmy Raney, Wes Montgomery, Charles Mingus, and Miles Davis.

[9] The young Summers is portrayed in fiction as one of the "two main love interests" in Jenny Fabian and Johnny Byrne's 1969 book Groupie, in which he is given the pseudonym "Davey".

The album features a recording of Traffic's "Coloured Rain", which includes a 4 minute and 15 second guitar solo by Summers.

The LP also included a reworked version of Dantalian's Chariot's sole single "Madman Running Through the Fields".

After five years in Los Angeles, mostly spent studying classical guitar and composition in the music programme at California State University, Northridge, from which he graduated in 1972, he returned to London with his American girlfriend, Kate Lunken.

In 1977, Summers was invited by ex-Gong bassist Mike Howlett to join his band Strontium 90, but was soon coaxed away by future Police bandmates Sting and Stewart Copeland.

Emerging from London's punk scene, the Police gained international renown with many hit songs, including "Message in a Bottle", "Roxanne", "Don't Stand So Close to Me", "Every Breath You Take", and "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic".

During his time with the band, Summers twice won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance, first in 1981 for "Reggatta de Blanc" (written with Copeland and Sting) and in 1982 for "Behind My Camel".

[16][12] As a member of the Police, Summers created a trademark guitar sound, which relied heavily on a chorus effect.

As we went on, I acquired more stuff and got a Pete Cornish board, but what was driving it was to invade and push the edge of what the guitar was supposed to sound like, and make it really interesting over a show.

In the mid-1990s Summers briefly returned to a more rock-oriented sound with Synesthesia (1995) and The Last Dance of Mr X (1997) before recording a string of jazz albums.

[41] Summers primary guitar throughout the Police's peak years was a unique 1963 Fender Telecaster Custom with two significant modifications, it had an onboard preamp and featured a Gibson PAF in the neck position.