George Alan O’Dowd was born in Kent, England on June 14, 1961 to parents Gerald and Dinah. He had two older brothers, Richard and Kevin, and later would have two more brothers, Gerald and David, and a sister Siobhan. Life was not always easy growing up, for his family was working-class and they did not have much money or privacy. George had to share a room with his brothers, and they often fought.
Dressing Up and Clubbing
As George entered his teens, he became fascinated by glam rockers, particularly David Bowie and Marc Bolan. He attended their concerts and began dressing unconventionally. He snatched up whatever he could find at charity shops and avant-garde stores and fashioned entirely new looks for himself, which won him much attention from passersby and even magazines.
His teachers didn’t approve of his look and George was tired of school, so he dropped out at age fifteen.
After he quit school, he spent most of his free time at London dance clubs such as Heaven and Dial M for Dolphins, where he met quirky people like Steve Strange and Philip Sallon. He also met Mikey Craig, and they decided to form a band. George wanted to sing. He didn’t have any formal experience, but he had sung along with all his mother’s old records his whole life. Mikey could play bass guitar.
Culture Club
George contacted Jon Moss, a semi-famous drummer who had formerly drummed with The Damned and briefly with Adam and the Ants. George later found Roy Hay, a guitarist. The band was formed, and now, after deciding on calling themselves Culture Club, and George dubbing himself Boy George, all they had to do was make themselves famous.
By 1982 they had hit it big in the U.K. and the U.S., and eventually around the world with hits such as “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”, “Time (Clock of the Heart)”, “Church of the Poison Mind” and most especially “Karma Chameleon”, which was a number one hit in both the U.K. and U.S.
Boy George's Solo Career
However, the fun and success did not last. By 1987, George’s drug habits, as well as relationship problems with drummer Jon Moss, hastened the band’s break up. George immediately embarked on a solo career and had a U.K. number one hit with the song “Everything I Own” in 1987. He released his first solo album that same year, entitled Sold, and had minor success with other dance albums in the late 80s and early 90s.
In the mid-90s, George released another album entitled Cheapness and Beauty. A surprise came later that decade when Culture Club decided to reunite in 1998 for a tour and new album. They scored minor U.K. hits off of their album Don’t Mind if I Do, but it was not released in the U.S. The band remained together off and on until they broke off once more in 2002.
Taboo the Musical
In the early 2000s George wrote a musical called Taboo, which dealt with life at a 1980s club run by his friend Leigh Bowery. The play did well in London, and plans were made to try it on Broadway, with financial and promotional backing from Rosie O’Donnell.
In November 2003 Taboo opened in Manhattan, and while it received much publicity, it failed to do as well as it had in London and closed shortly thereafter.
Boy George Arrested
George stated that when his friends whom he had met whilst working on the play returned to London, he chose to stay behind in New York because he did not want to admit defeat and go home. Whilst he remained in New York, however, he began to use cocaine. One evening he believed that his apartment had been robbed, and so on October 7, 2005, he called the police.
The police found cocaine in George’s apartment, and arrested him. He was sentenced to five days of community service in New York in August 2006, which garnered much media attention. After moving back to London, George got into trouble again when an escort he had used as a photo model claimed that George had handcuffed him and threatened him with physical harm. On January 20, 2009, George was sentenced to fifteen months in prison.
Freedom and Clean Living
On May 11 2009, George was released from prison early due to good behavior. He has said he wants to keep his life on track and does not intend to get in trouble with the law again. He had intended to tour before he was sentenced to prison, and now that he is out, he may tour and release an album since he was not able to do so when he originally intended.
While George has led a colorful and at times painful life, he has said that he wants to change his life for the better. This suggests that he will continue to be active in music and make a name for himself once more that is not synonymous with controversy and scandal, but what made him famous in the first place: music.
Sources
Boy George and Spencer Bright, Take It Like a Man (New York: Harpercollins, 1995).
Boy George and Paul Gorman, Straight (London: Century, 2004)
‘Out, Boy George appeared thinner with a healthy glow after stint in prison.’ Daily Mail, Paul Revoir, May 12 2009.
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