Boy George
Boy George was born George O'Dowd in London, England on 14 June 1961.
As the lead singer with the 1980s group Culture Club, Boy George became one of pop music's most colourful figures. His androgynous looks, make-up and outrageous costumes, set him out from the crowd and his deep, soulful voice gave an edge to Culture Club's mix of pop and soul music.
Boy George was a night club devotee in the late seventies and mixed with glam / cross-dressing set that were much inspired by glam rock stars such as Marc Bolan and David Bowie.
Boy George made a brief appearance with the band Bow Wow Wow before leaving to form Sex Gang Children with Mikey Craig and Jon Moss, both later of Culture Club.
By 1981, the band had become Culture Club and signed a contract with Virgin. Their first single White Boy, failed to make the charts but later that year they hit the big time with Do You Really Want to Hurt Me? which reached number one in the UK. An album, Kissing to be Clever was released early in 1983, which gave the band three further hits and chart success in the US.
A second album produced more success and Culture Club became one of the most sought after acts of the day. However, in 1985 Boy George admitted heroin addiction and his relationship with the band's drummer, Jon Moss was in decline. In 1986, Boy George was arrested for possession of cannabis and shortly afterwards the band's keyboard player Michael Rudetski was found dead from heroin abuse in George's home.
Culture Club broke up in the spring of 1987 and he was soon to launch a solo career. Boy George found success as a solo artist in 1992 with a recording of the 60s song The Crying Game which sold well in the US. Further releases followed and Boy George began concentrating on the club scene.
In more recent years, Boy George became a prominent DJ earning acclaim in both the UK and US. However, it has not all been plain sailing and Boy George was sentenced to five days community service and fined $1,000 after admitting wasting police time in 2005 by falsely reporting a burglary. Police also found a small amount of cocaine at his home.
In August 2006 Boy George started his community service cleaning garbage in a street near Brooklyn Bridge with a horde of photographers accompanying him.
In April 2007, Boy George was arrested in the UK over allegations of false imprisonment and assault.
Boy George biography by Rupert Vandervell