Pop music fans in New Delhi and Bangalore can expect a special "sting" to help them cope with the chilly winter next month when former Police frontman Sting performs in these cities as part of his "Sacred Love" world tour.

Sting, a former teacher whose real name is Mathew Gordon Sumner, will perform at the Palace Grounds in Bangalore Feb 4 and at the warm-up grounds of the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium here Feb 6.

This is not the first time that Sting has played in India - he had performed in New Delhi along with Bruce Springsteen, Tracey Chapman and Peter Gabriel in 1988 as part of a tour for Amnesty International and in Mumbai earlier.

The concerts are being sponsored by Pepsi in association with Nokia, Hutch and VH1 and are promoted by DNA Networks, which has staged some of the biggest live music events in India featuring artists like Bryan Adams and Yanni.

One of the biggest names in international music for nearly two decades now, Sting has sold over 100 million albums in his career as a part of the Police and as a solo artist, winning five Grammy awards in the process.

"The Sting concerts will be a fabulous opener for the new year," said Venkat Vardhan, managing director of DNA Networks, noting he had in store a "line-up of other great events" throughout 2005.

"International artists are making India an integral part of their Asia tours now," he told a news conference here Monday.

Vipul Prakash, executive vice president (marketing) of Pepsi Foods, said such events would allow Indian youth to come closer to international music.

Delhi Tourism too is backing the Sting concert here, with Sanjay Sharma, chief manager, saying such events were a platform to showcase the city and its cultural inclinations.

To coincide with the India concerts, Universal Music will release a special limited edition of Sting's latest album "Sacred Love" featuring some rare and unreleased songs.

The "Sacred Love" album, issued in 2003, features Anoushka Shankar on sitar on one track.

In the wake of the Dec 26 tsunami disaster, Vardhan said a significant contribution would be made from the proceeds of the concerts for the relief of victims.

"But the contributions would be made available only to India's disaster-hit areas," he said.