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George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer-songwriter and DJ who rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham and was part of the New Romantic movement which emerged in the late 1970s to early 1980s. His androgynous look and style of fashion was greatly inspired by glam rock pioneers David Bowie and Marc Bolan. He formed Culture Club with Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss in 1981. The band's second album, Colour by Numbers (1983), sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Their hit singles include "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", "Time (Clock of the Heart)", "I'll Tumble 4 Ya", "Church of the Poison Mind", "Karma Chameleon", "Victims", "Miss Me Blind", "It's a Miracle", "The War Song", "Move Away" and "I Just Wanna Be Loved".
Boy George was the lead singer of Jesus Loves You between 1989 and 1992 and still performs solo and with Culture Club, who have reformed twice since initially parting ways in 1986. He began his career as a DJ in the mid-1990s. Outside of music, Boy George's other creative activities involve mixed media art, writing books, designing clothes and photography. He has also made several appearances in television, most recently appearing as a contestant on the 22nd UK series of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in November 2022, eventually finishing in 8th place.
As a solo artist, Boy George has released nine studio albums, five compilation albums and forty-eight singles. He has also released seven DJ albums, three EPs and a soundtrack album. His solo hit songs include "Everything I Own", "Bow Down Mister", "Generations of Love" and "Love Is Leaving" and "The Crying Game", from the soundtrack for the film The Crying Game. He was one of the singers on the 1984 charity song "Do They Know It's Christmas?". Boy George's music spans several genres, including pop, new wave, Soul music, soft rock, disco and reggae. He has received several awards as a solo artist and as a member of Culture Club. In 2001, he was voted 46th in a BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. In 2015, Boy George received an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for Outstanding Services to British Music. "Boy George, The Ivors" . The Ivors. Retrieved 31 December 2017
Boy George has compared his family history to a "sad Irish song." His maternal grandmother was permanently taken from her family at age six after being found outside the family home alone, and placed into an Industrial School. His great uncle Thomas Bryan was executed at Mountjoy Prison in 1921 during the Irish War of Independence. According to Boy George's mother, who published a memoir in 2007, Jerry O'Dowd was physically and mentally abusive and beat her, including when she was pregnant with Boy George. Boy George said of his father, "He was a terrible father and a terrible husband." In 1995, Boy George's youngest brother Gerald, who has schizophrenia, was convicted of killing his wife in an episode of paranoia.
Boy George was a follower of the New Romantic movement, which was popular in the UK in the early 1980s. He lived in various squatting around Warren Street in Central London. He and his friend Marilyn were regulars at Blitz, a London nightclub run by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan. The pop artists that inspired him were Siouxsie and the Banshees, Roxy Music, Patti Smith, and the two major glam rock pioneers, David Bowie, and T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan. On the impact of Bolan and Bowie on him, Boy George said:
The band recorded demos that were paid for by EMI Records, but the label declined to sign them. Virgin Records expressed interest in signing the group in the UK for European releases, while Epic Records handled the US and North American distribution. They recorded their debut album, Kissing to Be Clever (UK No. 5, US No. 14), and it was released in 1982. The single "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" became an international hit, reaching No. 1 in multiple countries around the world, plus top ten in several more countries (US No. 2). This was followed by the Top 5 hit "Time" in the US and UK, and "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" which reached US No. 9. This gave Culture Club the distinction of being the first group since the Beatles to have three Top 10 hits in the US from a debut album.
Their next album, Colour By Numbers, was an enormous success, topping the UK charts and reaching No. 2 in the US. The single "Church of the Poison Mind" became a Top 10 hit, and "Karma Chameleon" was an international hit, peaking at No. 1 in 16 countries, and the top ten in additional countries. In the US it hit No. 1, where it stayed for three weeks. It was the best-selling single of 1983 in the United Kingdom, where it spent six weeks at No. 1. (1984). 9780906154045, British Phonographic Industry. ISBN 9780906154045 "Victims" and "It's a Miracle" were further Top 5 UK hits, while "Miss Me Blind" reached the Top 5 in the US.
The band's third album, Waking Up with the House on Fire (UK No. 2, US No. 26), was not as big a hit as its predecessors internationally, but still achieved chart success. The first single, "The War Song", was a No. 2 hit in the UK, but further singles performed below expectations. On 25 November 1984, Boy George provided a joint lead vocal role on the Band Aid charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" recorded at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, west London. He was the last solo artist to deliver his lines, at 6 p.m., having just arrived in the studio from Heathrow Airport after a Concorde transatlantic flight.Presenter: Midge Ure (21 October 2004). Band Aid: The Song That Rocked the World. BBC (TV Documentary). The song featured mostly British and Irish musical acts, with Boy George the second singer to feature after Paul Young sings the opening lines. It became Christmas number one and the best-selling single of 1984 in the United Kingdom. (1985). 9780906154069, British Phonographic Industry. ISBN 9780906154069 Proceeds from the song were donated to feed famine victims in Africa during the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. "Looking Back At Live Aid, 25 Years Later" . MTV. Retrieved 22 October 2016 Unlike many of the bands featured on the single, Culture Club did not perform at Live Aid in July 1985.
In 1986, Boy George performed a guest-starring cameo role in an episode of the television series The A-Team titled "CowBoy George". Also in 1986, Culture Club released their fourth album, From Luxury to Heartache (UK No. 10, US No. 32), which featured the hit single "Move Away". With Boy George's subsequent drug addiction, the underwhelming performance of their last two albums, a soured romance between band members shrouded in secrecy, and a wrongful death lawsuit looming, the group ultimately disbanded.
The band was scheduled to tour New Zealand in 2016. Tickets were sold for performances in Christchurch and Auckland. In November 2016, in a pre-tour interview on TVNZ, Boy George walked out after the interviewer asked him about his 2009 criminal conviction. The band then cancelled its Christchurch performance, saying it was due to changes in its international touring schedule. Later in November, the December performance in Auckland was also cancelled.
Boy George did score his first solo US Top 40 hit with the single "Live My Life" (US No. 40) from the soundtrack to the film Hiding Out. Tense Nervous Headache (1988) and Boyfriend (1989) would be his next two internationally released albums; however, these two albums would not be distributed in the US. Instead, Virgin Records selected several songs from each of these albums for a North American-only release called High Hat (1989). High Hat scored a US Top 5 R&B hit in "Don't Take My Mind on a Trip", produced by Teddy Riley. Boy George's next single in the UK was "No Clause 28 (Emilio Pasqez Space Face Full Remix)", a protest song against a legal provision (Section 28) introduced by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government that prohibited the "promotion" of homosexuality by local authorities such as schools. The song was an underground acid house hit. In accepting the award for Best British Group from Boy George at the 1989 Brit Awards held at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Andy Bell of Erasure kissed Boy George on stage to cheers from the crowd, with Bell stating it was an act in protest against Section 28.
Boy George has also enjoyed a second career as a notable music DJ.For example, in 2001 he toured the U.S. and Canada as part of the "Big DJ, Small Club" series, sponsored by Benson & Hedges. Michel Raphael, "Bean there". National Post, 14 August 2001: B1, B2. His first gig as a DJ was at Phillip Sallon's new nightclub, Planets, located in London's Piccadilly. In the 1990s he came to the attention of rave/house promoters Fantazia who asked him to mix one of the discs on the two volumes in their new compilation series Fantazia The House Collection 2. This compilation was a success in the UK, going gold. The album was also sold to Sony for European-wide release. London nightclub Ministry of Sound hired him to compile one of their first CDs, which sold 100,000 copies. He then completed some compilations for them, four of them being the Annual I to IV. George released the rock-driven album Cheapness and Beauty in 1995. The single "Same Thing in Reverse" became a minor US hit. The Unrecoupable One Man Bandit – Volume One was the next album release, first being sold on the internet only, then distributed by independent labels.
On some other labels, several dance-oriented songs were released in various countries. For example, "Love Is Leaving" went Top 3 in Italy and "When Will You Learn" reached the top position in the Swiss charts. "When Will You Learn" was also nominated for the Best Dance Recording, at the Grammy Awards. In 1999, Boy George collaborated on songs with dance-oriented acts. For example, "Why Go?", a slow-paced track with Faithless, from their Sunday 8PM LP, was later released in a remixed form in some European countries and Australia. A track was done with Groove Armada, named "Innocence is Lost", but was only released on a promo 12" in 1999.
In 2002, Boy George released U Can Never B2 Straight, an "unplugged" collection of rare and lesser-known acoustic works. It contained unreleased tracks from previous years as well as some ballads from Cheapness and Beauty and the Culture Club album Don't Mind if I Do. From 2002 to 2004, under the pseudonym "The Twin", Boy George experimented in electronica, releasing limited-edition 7" singles and promo records. The limited releases included four 7" singles, one limited 12" single (for "Sanitised") and a promo CD, a 13-track album Yum Yum. Two years later, it was released via digital outlets such as iTunes. An album recorded in the spring of 2003 was also shelved.
During 2003, Boy George presented a weekly show on London radio station LBC 97.3 for six months. He wrote the foreword for a feng shui book called Practical Feng Shui by Simon G. Brown (published in 1998). He also appeared as a guest on the British comedy-talk show The Kumars at No. 42. In March 2005 he was the guest host for an episode of The Friday Night Project, for Channel 4 television.
In 2005, Boy George released Straight, the second volume of his autobiography. On his "More Protein" website, he also announced another album, also named Straight, for mid-2005. The album was never released but a four-track sampler was released along with a book titled Straight. A reggaeton-oriented EP was also planned for August 2006 but was never released. Some recent tracks were shared by Boy George himself in late 2006 and early 2007 on his YouTube account, his three Myspace pages and sometimes on his official site. In January 2007, Boy George released "Time Machine" on Plan A Records, a song co-written with Ivor Novello Award-winning songwriter Amanda Ghost, who also co-wrote "You're Beautiful" with James Blunt.
Later in 2007, two electronica/dance collaborations were released in limited editions. On 25 February 2007, Boy George was special guest DJ at LGBT nightspot the Court Hotel in Perth, Australia. On 4 March 2007, he performed as a DJ at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney for the Mardi Gras Festival. On 11 May 2007, he performed as a DJ at the launch party for the Palazzo Versace in Dubai, UAE. Boy George cancelled his planned 2007 October tour via an announcement on his official website. In 2007, he toured as a DJ, visiting many venues around the world.
Boy George played a special residency at the Shaw Theatre in London from 23 January 2008, followed by a full UK tour. In April 2008, The Biography Channel featured a documentary on the life of Boy George. The American tour which was planned for July/August 2008 had to be cancelled because he had been denied a United States visa due to a pending London court case scheduled for November 2008. On 2 July six concert dates in South America were announced. Boy George participated in RETROFEST held in Scotland in August 2008, "Fact File: Retrofest" , Scotland on Sunday, 25 May 2008 and a 30-date UK tour took place in October/November 2008. In 2009, he signed a new record deal subsequently releasing the album Ordinary Alien in the autumn of 2010. The album consisted of previously recorded tracks mixed by long-time dance partner Kinky Roland. He took part in Night of the Proms, which is a series of concerts held yearly in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain which consist of a combination of pop music and popular classical music (often combined).
In June 2013, a new song was released called "Coming Home". Mikey Craig, former bandmate in Culture Club, co-wrote the song with Boy George. It was written during the song writing sessions for his album This Is What I Do released in October 2013. It has been remixed by the likes of Marc Vedo and Kinky Roland. The artist listed for the song is Dharma Protocol featuring Boy George. A video was released on YouTube shot and directed by Boy George, though he did not appear in the video. It was set on the Epping Ongar Railway and starred Danie Cox, lead singer and guitarist of London-based band the Featherz.
On 19 August 2013, it was announced Boy George would release his new studio album of original material, This Is What I Do, his first in 18 years. The album was written by Boy George and long-time writing partners John Themis, Kevan Frost and Richie Stevens. Stevens produced the record at London's Cowshed Studios and it was released by Kobalt Label Services. The album also features writing collaborations with Youth, and a version of Yoko Ono's "Death of Samantha". It was mixed by Dave Bascombe and features a string of guest musicians including DJ Yoda, Kitty Durham, Ally McErlaine, MC Spee and Nizar Al Issa. In 2015, BBC Four showed Boy George and Culture Club: From Karma to Calamity a film about a 2014 reunion, a new album, and a planned UK–US tour.
In January 2016, Boy George joined the fifth series of The Voice UK, replacing Tom Jones as a mentor. His final act, Cody Frost, finished third place overall. Boy George left the series after just one season and later went on to join The Voice Australia as a coach for its sixth season to replace The Madden Brothers. His final contestant, Hoseah Partsch, was the runner-up. He returned for the show's seventh season, in 2018, its eighth season, in 2019 where his final contestant, Diana Rouvas, won the competition, and its ninth season in 2020. Boy George did not return for the tenth season and was replaced by Jessica Mauboy.
In October 2016, Boy George performed David Bowie's "Starman"—nine months after his idol's death from liver cancer—along with the National Health Service choir, as part of Channel 4's Stand Up to Cancer UK programme. In 2017, Boy George participated in the last season of The New Celebrity Apprentice on NBC, in which he supported the charity Safe Kids Worldwide and came in second place. Also in 2017 he collaborated on Pitbull's album Climate Change. In August 2017, Boy George signed a recording deal with BMG, reuniting him with his songwriting catalogue, as BMG had acquired the Virgin Records songwriters in 2012. In 2019, he joined Marc Almond and Chrissie Hynde as a vocalist on "Don't Go Changing Soho", a single by Jocasta's Tim Arnold for the Save Soho campaign.
On 2 and 26 March 2020, through his YouTube channel, Boy George respectively released (as videos) 2 new solo songs entitled "Clouds" and "Isolation" taken from his forthcoming album Geminis Don't Read the Manual which was due to be released later in the year, but was postponed. On 6 April 2020 on his own record label BGP (Boy George Presents) he released the "Isolation" limited edition 2-track CD single including the title track and a new "Spatial Awareness Meets the Boy Uptown Dub" mix of the track "Clouds". In 2021, he was a guest on the BBC's Paul Weller – Live at the Barbican, joining Paul Weller and conductor Jules Buckley for a version of The Style Council's "You're the Best Thing". In September 2021, he became a judge on the Irish talent show The Big Deal.
In a conversation with Seann Walsh, Boy George said that he found Hancock "slimy and slippery" and later told Hancock that he found it difficult to "separate" the politician from the person. He was eliminated from the show on 22 November on the seventeenth day, finishing in 8th place. During February–May 2024, and again from March-May 2025, Boy George portrayed Harold Zidler in the Moulin Rouge! musical.
In 2024, Boy George was among over 400 artists and public figures who signed an open letter supporting Israel's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. The letter urged the event's organisers to maintain the contest's non-political nature and to allow Israeli entrant Eden Golan to perform her song "Hurricane".
, Boy George has credited his practice of Nichiren Buddhism and chanting Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō for his newfound spiritual strength to remain sober. Boy George has said: "I'm Catholic in my complications and Buddhist in my aspirations." Boy George has multiple tattoos, including a Christian cross on the side of his face and a Jewish Star of David tattooed on the top of his head. He has a tattoo of David Bowie on his right arm and one of Marc Bolan on his left. Boy George said in 2013 he was "quite drunk" when his head was shaved and tattooed. He said when he stopped drinking alcohol he lost the desire to have further tattoos on his head, finding it "too painful".
In his 1995 autobiography Take It Like a Man, Boy George stated that he was in fact gay, not bisexual, and that he had had secret relationships with punk rock singer Kirk Brandon and Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. He stated that many of the songs he wrote for Culture Club were about his relationship with Moss. (1995). 9780330323628, Pan Books (Macmillan Publishers Ltd). ISBN 9780330323628 In the 2008 documentary Living with Boy George, he talked about his first realisation he was gay, when he first told his parents, and why men fall in love with one another as well as with women. Living with... Boy George (TV 2008) , IMDb As two of the biggest androgynous stars in music, Boy George and Annie Lennox appeared on the cover of Smash Hits magazine in December 1983, followed by the cover of Newsweek magazine in January 1984.
In 1986, keyboardist Michael Rudetsky, who co-wrote the song "Sexuality" on Culture Club's From Luxury to Heartache album, was found dead of a heroin overdose in Boy George's London home. Boy George's friend Mark Vaultier died after an overdose of methadone and Valium at a party. In December 1986, another friend, Mark Golding, died of an overdose, with Scotland Yard police stating there was no suggestion of foul play. During this period Boy George decided to seek treatment for his addiction.
In 1995, Kirk Brandon sued Boy George for libel, claiming that Boy George mentioned a love affair between them in Boy George's autobiography, Take It Like a Man. Boy George won the court case and Brandon was ordered to pay pound sterling200,000 to Virgin Records, EMI Virgin Music and the book publisher in costs. Brandon declared himself bankrupt, which resulted in Boy George paying over £20,000 in legal fees.Boy George (with Paul Gorman) Straight, London: Century, 2005
On 7 October 2005, Boy George was arrested in Manhattan on suspicion of cocaine possession and falsely reporting a burglary. Boy George denied that the drugs were his. "Musician Boy George has appeared in court ..." , BBC News, 8 October 2008 In court on 1 February 2006, the cocaine possession charge was dropped and Boy George pleaded guilty to falsely reporting a burglary. He was sentenced to five days of community service, fined US$1,000 and ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation programme. "Singer Boy George has had a charge of possessing cocaine dropped by a New York court" , BBC News, 8 March 2006 On 17 June 2006, a Manhattan judge issued a warrant for the arrest of Boy George after he failed to appear in court for a hearing on why Boy George wanted to change his sentence for the false burglary report. Boy George's attorney informed the court that he had advised Boy George not to appear at that hearing. "Boy George Angers NYC Judge" , wcbstv from AP report, 17 June 2006 On 14 August 2006, Boy George reported to the New York City Department of Sanitation for his court-ordered community service. As a result of the intense media coverage, he was allowed to finish his community service inside the Sanitation Department grounds. "A feisty Boy George reports for garbage duty", Today.com, 14 August 2006
In March 2023, a settlement was reached by the four original members of Culture Club, who agreed that George, Hay, and Craig would pay Moss £1.75 million, after he had filed a lawsuit against his former bandmates for lost income due to having allegedly been "expelled" from the group in 2018. The settlement required that Moss relinquish any and all rights to the Culture Club name and its use. Moss later filed bankruptcy proceedings against George and Craig, which were dismissed in June 2023.
In December 2009, while still on licensed release from prison, Boy George made a request to the Probation Service that he be allowed to appear on the seventh series of Celebrity Big Brother (to be broadcast on Channel 4). His request was denied. Richard Clayton QC, representing the Probation Service, stated that Boy George's participation would pose "a high level of risk" to the service's reputation. Clayton argued that public confidence in the criminal justice system could be undermined if George earned "a lucrative sum" of money and used his appearance on the show to promote his status as a celebrity.
| 1993 | MTV Video Music Awards | "The Crying Game" | Best Video from a Film | |
| 1994 | Grammy Awards | Best Male Pop Vocal Performance | ||
| 1999 | "When Will You Learn" | Best Dance Recording | ||
| 2002 | BT Digital Music Awards | Himself | People's Choice Award | |
| 2004 | Tony Awards | Taboo | Best Original Score | |
| Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | |||
| Outstanding Lyrics | ||||
| 2005 | Lunas del Auditorio | Himself | Espectaculo Alternativo | |
| 2010 | Antville Music Video Awards | "Somebody to Love Me" (ft. Mark Ronson) | Best Art Direction | |
| 2011 | Popjustice £20 Music Prize | Best British Pop Single | ||
| UK Music Video Awards | Best Pop Video (UK) | |||
| D&AD Awards | Best Music Video | |||
| 2015 | Ivor Novello Awards | Himself | Outstanding Contribution to British Music | |
| British LGBT Awards | Best Music Artist | |||
| 2016 | Celebrity | |||
| International Dance Music Awards | "Just Another Guy" (ft. Vanilla Ace & Katerina Themis) | Best Indie Dance Track | ||
| 2018 | Attitude Awards | Himself | Music Icon | |
| 2019 | Classic Pop Readers' Awards | Boy George & Culture Club | Group of the Year |
| 1986 | The A-Team | Himself; guest star as a member of Culture Club in "Cowboy George", episode 16 season 4. |
| 2002–2004 | Taboo | Leigh Bowery |
| 2003 | Hollyoaks | Himself; guest star |
| The Kumars at No. 42 | Himself; guest star (Episode 3.6) | |
| 2016 | The Voice UK | Himself; judge/coach |
| 2017–2020 | The Voice Australia | |
| 2016 | Stand Up to Cancer UK | Himself; contestant |
| Project Runway All Stars | Himself; guest star | |
| 2017 | The New Celebrity Apprentice | Himself; contestant |
| 2018 | Who Do You Think You Are? | Himself |
| 2021 | The Big Deal | Himself; host |
| 2022 | I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! | Himself; contestant |
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