The 411 - George Alan O'Dowd

George Alan O'Dowd, better known as Boy George, (born 14 June 1961 in Eltham, London) is a singer-songwriter and club DJ. He grew up in a large, working-class Irish family who had originated from Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland.

Boy George was part of the British new romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He, Marilyn, members of Spandau Ballet, and other musicians were regulars at The Blitz. This led to them being known as the Blitz Kids. The Blitz was a a highly stylized London nightclub run by Steve Strange of Visage. Essentially, these new romantics were an amalgamation of David Bowie, Kraftwerk, Marc Bolan, New Wave, high fashion, and gender-bending. At Blitz and similar clubs, men enjoyed makeup and exotic outfits while women opted for a more masculine appearance (e.g., the "power dressing" of Annie Lennox).

Boy George helped give this androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. Musically speaking, he is often classified as blue-eyed soul, having been heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and reggae. Early recordings with Culture Club showed that Boy George's vocals had an emotional quality reminiscent of American soul music of the 1960s and 1970s.

His later solo work touches on glam rock influences, particularly David Bowie and Iggy Pop.

Boy George's androgynous style caught the attention of music executive Malcolm McLaren (of Sex Pistols fame), who arranged for O'Dowd to perform with the group Bow Wow Wow, featuring Annabella Lwin, at various shows. He was christened Lieutenant Lush and he nearly stole the spotlight from Lwin.

Culture Club
Boy George's association with Bow Wow Wow ended soon afterwards, and he started his own group with bassist Mikey Craig. The group was to be called In Praise Of Lemmings, but the name was later abandoned. Jon Moss (who had drummed with The Damned, Adam and the Ants and London) then joined the group and became George's lover. The final member to join the band was Roy Hay (who at the time was guitarist in a band called Russian Bouquet), who was selected after the group's association with another guitarist, 'Suede', proved unsatisfactory. The group abandoned another name, Sex Gang Children, and settled on the name Culture Club after assessing that the group consisted of an Irish singer, a Jamaican-Briton on bass, a Jewish drummer, and an Englishman on guitar.

The band signed with Virgin Records in the UK and with Epic Records in America, and released its debut album Kissing To Be Clever in 1982. The album's third single, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?", enjoyed massive success. It reached #1 in sixteen countries (#2 U.S.), and the group became a staple on American radio and the new MTV network. This single was followed by "Time (Clock Of The Heart)" (not on the UK LP), which reached #2, and "I'll Tumble 4 Ya", which reached #9. This gave Culture Club the distinction of being the first group since the Beatles to amass at least three top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 from a debut album. Their next album, Colour By Numbers was also a success. The single "Church Of The Poison Mind" (featuring Helen Terry) became a Top 10 hit, and "Karma Chameleon" became a #1 single in numerous countries around the world, including the U.S., where it stayed at #1 for four weeks, and the UK, where it was the best-selling single of the year, spending six weeks at #1. It stands as the group's biggest hit. "Miss Me Blind" and "It's A Miracle" were Top 5 and Top 20 hits respectively, and "Victims" was another Top 3 UK hit.

That George had become the main songwriter of the band became evident when Culture Club contributed to the movie soundtrack Electric Dreams. George and Roy Hay had already written "Love Lies Lost" for backing singer Helen Terry and a new tune "Passing Friend" for the upcoming Beach Boys album but the two Culture Club songs for Electric Dreams, "The Dream" and "Love is Love", was also written solely by George and Roy Hay. Moreover, the P. P. Arnold song "Electric Dreams" was credited only to George and Phil Pickett who also co-wrote "Karma Chameleon"

By now Boy George had become a household name in many countries around the world and he was a natural choice for one of the lead vocals on the Band Aid single "Do They Know It's Christmas". In early 1986, he guest-starred on an episode of The A-Team entitled "Cowboy George", in which he played himself. The plot involved (ficticious) country singer Cowboy George being booked to play in a small rural town, to be used as a cover for an armed robbery, but due to a mix up Boy George arrives instead.

In late 1985, George had become addicted to drugs. The addiction quickly evolved into a heroin addiction and Culture Club started to lose its place musically. Their 1986 album From Luxury to Heartache dragged on for so long that producer Arif Mardin had to disband the sessions and leave it up to engineer Lew Hahn to record the final vocals. Songs like "Gusto Blusto" and "Reasons" took days for George to finish. Following the release of the album, rumours of George's addiction began to circulate, and by the summer of 1986, he announced that he was indeed addicted to drugs. In July, he was arrested by the British police for possession of cannabis. Several days later, keyboardist Michael Rudetski, who played on From Luxury to Heartache and had co-written “Sexuality” and "What Have I Got To Lose" with George, was found dead of a heroin overdose in George's home. This followed a second death, friend Mark Vaultier who overdosed on methadone and Valium at a party Boy George was attending but got arrested en route on suspicion of carrying drugs. An American Culture Club tour was cancelled and the group had disbanded by late 1986.

Solo career
Still battling his heroin addiction and subsequent dependence on prescription narcotics, George started recording his first solo album. In 1987, Sold was released and George enjoyed several hit singles including "Everything I Own" (UK#1), "Keep Me In Mind" (UK#29), "To be Reborn" (UK#13) as well as the title song (UK#24).

Despite UK success, George never really managed to duplicate that success in the US, especially because he was not able to go to America because of the previous year's drug charges, though he did score a moderate hit with the song "Live My Life" (#40 US) from the Hiding Out soundtrack. His second US album High Hat comprised of songs from two of his solo British albums released after Sold. The R&B song "Don't Take My Mind On A Trip", produced by Teddy Riley, became the only hit from High Hat, reaching top 5 on the R&B chart.

His following release was a song to protest against the governing UK Conservative Party's legal restrictions on anyone working for a local authority promoting homosexuality, 'No Clause 28 (Emilio Pasquez Space Face Full Remix)' was a big underground acid house hit.

In 1989, after being presented with a demo of the track 'Everything Starts with an E' by ragamuffin artist MC Kinky of E-zee Posse, George formed his own label, More Protein. He also recorded under the name Jesus Loves You, (writing under the pseudonym Angela Dust), releasing two other underground club hits "After The Love" and "Generations Of Love", and "Bow Down Mister". With "Bow Down Mister", he returned to the UK top 30 in 1991. Inspired by his involvement in the Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON), George had written the song during a trip to India and with its reminiscence of "Karma Chameleon" it was intended for the Culture Club reunion, which never came about. "Bow Down Mister" would become a signature song for Boy George but also for Culture Club during their tours in the late 1990s.

Drug use
With George's relationship with Moss over, and with a poor reaction to the band's third album, George suffered several setbacks, and ultimately turned to drugs. This caused the downward spiral of the group, and they eventually disbanded, as George could no longer work with Moss.

George struggled against his severe heroin addiction for many years. He would appear in public under the influence of the drug, and even attempted to do concerts in such a state. Addictions to other drugs followed, and George's younger brother David, in an attempt to save his famous sibling from death, went on UK national television and blew the whistle on George. Some of George's closest friends had already died of overdoses and co-writer on the From Luxury to Heartache album, Michael Rudetsky, was found dead of a heroin overdose in George's home in August 1986.

Sexual orientation
When George was with Culture Club, much was made of his androgynous appearance, and there was speculation about his sexuality. When asked the question in interviews, George gave various answers. At times he suggested he was bisexual. He gave a famous, oft-quoted response to an interviewer that "I prefer a nice cup of tea to sex".

In Take It Like A Man, George told his side of his secret relationship with Culture Club drummer Jon Moss (also Kirk Brandon, see legal problems). He stated many of the songs he wrote for Culture Club were directed at Moss. He also alleged that Moss had broken off his engagement to be with George, and that Moss was never comfortable in a same-sex relationship, although Moss was bisexual. During the Culture Club reunion, though, Moss did acknowledge that he had loved George deeply, although now he is married to a woman and has several children.

George's striking looks inspired many Boy George look-alike contests around the world, and his face became the image of Culture Club. He became an alternative teen idol, as well as a gay icon.

*From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia