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George Alan O'Dowd, better known as '''Boy George''' (born June 14 , 1961 in Eltham ) is a Rock singer-songwriter. George grew up in a large, working-class Irish family, which originated in Thurles , in Co. Tipperary , Ireland . O'Dowd was a part of the British New Romantic movement which emerged in the late 1970s and was popularised in the early 1980s. Marilyn and himself were regulars at 'The Blitz' (regulars being labelled as Blitz Kids ), a highly stylised nightclub in London run by Steve Strange of the musical group Visage , and a place which spawned many early 1980s pop stars such as Spandau Ballet . Essentially the new romantics based their image on the coolness of David Bowie and high fashion, and the music of David Bowie, Kraftwerk , Marc Bolan and post Punk New Wave . O'Dowd gained fame with his group Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as Blue-eyed Soul , since he was heavily influenced by Rhythm And Blues and Reggae . Early recordings with Culture Club showed that O'Dowd's vocals had an emotional quality which was reminiscent of American Soul Music of the 1960s and 1970s. His later solo work has also touched on Glam Rock influences and was particularly influenced by David Bowie and Iggy Pop . Boy George is also known for his flamboyant and androgynous appearance back in the 80s and early 90s. CAREER Discovery 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. 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.
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