Sting defends his seven homes

Rich rocker Sting believes owning seven homes helps to keep him grounded, because it means he can avoid plush hotels.

The superstar insists owning so many houses is modest and necessary because he is constantly travelling and hates to carry a suitcase.

The Every Breath You Take hitmaker boasts one home in Los Angeles, one in New York, two in London, one in England's picturesque Lake District, a 20-room 600 acre estate in Tuscany, Italy and his family's main 60-acre residence in Wiltshire, England.

He says, "I do use all those houses, so it's so important to have them. I spent a quarter of a century living out of a suitcase travelling through hotels on tour, but it's far nicer if you can go back to your own home instead with a few books that are yours, some art on the walls you bought and sit on your own furniture.

"I want to live as normally as possible and I demand my right to walk around in a normal way, without protection or bodyguards."