Boy George

Boy George
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Background information
Born 14 June 1961 (1961-06-14) (age 48)
Origin Eltham, London, England
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, DJ
Instrument(s) Vocals, Turntables
Years active 1982 – present
Label(s) More Protein
Plan A Records
Virgin Records
Associated acts Culture Club, Jesus Loves You
Website http://www.boygeorgelive.com

Boy George (born George Alan O'Dowd 14 June 1961 in Eltham, London) is an English singer-songwriter, who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by rhythm and blues and reggae. His 1990s and 2000s-era solo music has glam influences such as David Bowie and Iggy Pop. Being involved in many activities (among them songwriting, DJing, writing books, designing clothes and photography) he has released fewer music recordings in the last decade. He was convicted of false Imprisonment of a male escort in December 2008, and will be sentenced in January 2009.

Contents

Career

Culture Club

Boy George's androgynous style caught the attention of music executive Malcolm McLaren (previously the inspiration behind the Sex Pistols), who arranged for O'Dowd to perform with the group Bow Wow Wow, featuring Annabella Lwin. 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 been the drummer with The Damned, Adam and the Ants and London) then joined the group. The final member to join the band was Roy Hay. The group abandoned another name, Sex Gang Children, and settled on the name Culture Club, an in-joke about the ethnic composition of the group, which consisted of a transvestite Irish singer (George), a Jamaican-Briton (Craig) on bass, a Jewish drummer (Moss), and an Anglo-Saxon Englishman (Hay) on guitar.

The band signed with Virgin Records in the UK, and with Epic Records in the US and released its debut album Kissing To Be Clever in 1982. The single "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?", reached #1 in a dozen countries around the world, and #2 in the United States. This was followed by "Time (Clock Of The Heart)" (not on the UK LP), which reached the US #2, and "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" which reached US #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 also a huge success. The single "Church Of The Poison Mind" (featuring Helen Terry) became a Top 10 hit, and "Karma Chameleon" became a #1 single in sixteen countries, including the US, where it stayed at #1 for three weeks. It was the best-selling single of the year in the UK, 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.

George was the main songwriter for the group and as such, also co-wrote Culture Club's contributions to the movie soundtrack Electric Dreams. The two Culture Club songs for the soundtrack , "The Dream" and "Love is Love", were 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". George also had a lead vocal role 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 rest of Culture Club also performed, but did not have speaking roles.

George had been ocassionally using drugs, but by 1985 he had developed a heroin addiction, which caused Culture Club to lose its place musically. As such, the group's next two albums (Waking Up With The House On Fire and From Luxury To Heartache) were not as successful as their first two; each album only gaining one chart entry in the U.S. George was also arrested by the British police for possession of cannabis. Keyboardist Michael Rudetski, who co-wrote and played on the song "Sexuality" on Culture Club's From Luxury to Heartache album, was found dead of a heroin overdose in George's home in London. This followed a second death, friend Mark Vaultier, who overdosed on methadone and Valium at a party Boy George was attending, but was arrested en-route on suspicion of carrying drugs. Culture Club disbanded several months after the release of their fourth album.

Solo career: The 1980s

His heroin addiction still a problem and a subsequent dependence on prescription narcotics emerging, 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 managed to duplicate his success in the United States; he was not able work in America because of the previous year's drug charges, though he did make a chart appearance 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 protest song 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 an underground acid house hit.

In 1989, George formed his own label, More Protein and recorded under the name Jesus Loves You, (writing under the pseudonym Angela Dust). He released two other underground club songs "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),[1] George had written the song during a trip to India. A third single taken from it, "One On One" became popular in its single version, remixed by Massive Attack).

Solo career: The 1990s

From March 1990 to April 1991, George presented a weekly chat and music show on the Power Station satellite channel called Blue Radio. In 1992, George had a hit with the song "The Crying Game" (produced by the Pet Shop Boys), which was featured in the movie of the same name, and reached the top-twenty of the US Hot 100. Although he had had several solo hits in the UK, this would be his first and only big US hit since the Culture Club song "Move Away" reached the Top 20 in America in 1986.

George made many recordings between 1990 and 1994, but none were issued. A pop and world music-oriented album was scheduled for release by Jesus Loves You in 1992, named "Popularity Breeds Contempt", but never came out. Only three tracks with their respective remixed versions survived, ending up on the "Sweet Toxic Love" EP, released in the last year of the 1990 year (which only reached #65 in the UK Chart). The album (the tentative title of which, "Popularity Breeds Contempt", also survived as opening line spoken at the beginning of the 1993 collection called At Worst: The Best of Boy George and Culture Club) was shelved, as it were, in favour of the recent growing interest in rock for George.

He released a rock-driven Cheapness and Beauty in 1995, but the album was not successful, although "Same Thing in Reverse" did become a minor US hit. A follow-up to Cheapness And Beauty, tentatively named "Too Spooky" was recorded in spring 1996, but it was shelved. Some of the tracks from those sessions appeared later on The Unrecoupable One Man Bandit Volume One, which was at first sold on the internet only and then distributed by several minor labels. Another project from the time was a new group that would include Boy George and two long-time musicians, John Themis and Richie Stevens. Initially named "Shallow", it was later re-named "Dubversive". The project took place in 1997 and was to include trip-hop, dub and reggae. The project was shelved, this time due to a lack of interest by record companies because of the group's lack of commercial appeal. Some songs from those sessions surfaced later on the 2002 Culture Club Box set and some others appeared on eBay in 2004.

On some other labels, several dance-oriented tracks were released in various countries. For example, "Love is Leaving" went top 3 in Italy and "When Will You Learn" reached the top positions in the Switzerland 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 8 PM 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.

Solo career: The 2000s

Despite his lack of solo success, Boy George remained a figure in the public eye. Although he never reached the same level of success as in the 1980s, he has enjoyed a second career as a notable music DJ. He started DJing in the early 1990s and came to the attention of legendary rave/house promoters Fantazia who asked him to mix 1 of the discs on the 2 volume 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, and it promptly sold 100,000 copies. He then completed some compilations for them, five of them being the Annual I to V. In 2002/2003 he starred in the London musical Taboo, based on his life (George didn't play himself, opting instead to take on the persona of Australian-born performance artist Leigh Bowery). Boy George was nominated for a Tony Awards for the "Best Musical Score" and Taboo was a great success in London's West End, though a heavily altered Rosie O'Donnell-produced run in New York was short-lived (100 performances only, against the two-year run in England).

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. It received the best reviews of Boy George's solo career, many of them highlighting his strong song writing abilities. The record was only released in the UK and Japan, and received almost no promotion from Virgin Records, only rising to #147 on the UK album charts.

From 2002 to 2004, under the pseudonym "the Twin", Boy George experimented in electronica, releasing limited edition 7" singles and promo records. Performed in small venues such as the Nag Nag Club, the material was considered innovative, but not commercially marketable. This period, however, was a very creative and liberating one for George; for "the Twin," could sing whatever he wanted. The limited releases included four 500 to 520 copies 7", one limited 12" (for Sanitized) and a promo cd, 1000 copies 13-track album Yum Yum. Two years later, it was released via digital outlets like iTunes. An album recorded in the Spring of 2003 was also shelved. A collaboration with electronic combo T-Total, the album was a collection of covers of songs by Jefferson Airplane, David Bowie, John Lennon, Dusty Springfield, T.Rex, and the Eurythmics among others. It is suggested that Boy George's numerous abandoned projects are due to his broad interest and need to explore other creative mediums such as photography, writing, and fashion.

During 2003, he 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.

On his "More Protein" website, George did announce another unreleased album, named Straight, for mid-2005. It was to include tracks such as "Panic" and "Talking Love". Fortunately, four tracks were released as a sampler with the book of the same name in 2005. A reggae-ton oriented EP was also planned for August 2006 but was never released. Some recent tracks were shared by 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. "Time Machine" was co-written by double Ivor Novello Award-winning songwriter Amanda Ghost who also co-wrote "You're Beautiful" with James Blunt.[2]

On 20 October 2006 it was announced that he will write some tracks for Kylie Minogue (News.com.au story) with Amanda Ghost. The songs eventually were not included on her 2007 album. It was not the first time that George wrote songs to other artists; in the past, he shared compositions with the Beach Boys, Caron Wheeler, Charlotte Church, Mica Paris and many others. He also wrote many of the tracks for the artists on his own dance oriented music label, More Protein, such as Eve Gallagher, Zee Asha, Lippy Lou, and E-Zee Possee.

Boy George has run his own fashion line for some years, namely "B-Rude". B-Rude has shown at fashion shows in London, New-York and Moscow. He is working right now on a forthcoming solo LP, which apparently will be including some ragga, reggae, pop and acoustic songs. On 24 December 2006, George appeared on a one-off BBC TV programme Duet Impossible where he performed with himself from the 1980s and joked about his street cleaning.

Later in 2007, two electronica/dance collaborations were released in limited editions. In the spring, the track "You're Not The One" was remixed from an old demo and released with the dance combo "Loverush UK" reaching the top 20 in the UK dance chart. It was a digital-only release, available in many digital retailers like iTunes. Also on iTunes, a new collaboration with trip-hop/electro band Dark Globe, called "Atoms", was released on 19 November. The single contains eight versions, from the slow original to electro remixes by Ariya and Henrik Schwarz. That EP would have included new remixes of tracks like "Turn 2 Dust", remixes of covers like "Don't Wanna See Myself" and "Go Your Own Way", and most of the versions included would have been remixes done by German producer Kinky Roland.

On 25 February 2007, George was special guest DJ at GLBT nightspot, The Court Hotel in Perth, Western Australia. On 4 March 2007, George performed as a DJ at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney for the Mardi Gras Festival. On 11 May 2007, George performed as a DJ at the launch party for the Palazzo Versace in Dubai, UAE. George cancelled his planned 2007 October tour via an announcement on his official website. In 2007: George toured as a DJ, visiting Florence, Stuttgart, Rotterdam, Toulouse, Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne, Syndey, Dubai, Skopje, Niagara Falls, Montreal, Toronto, Cagliari, Blackpool, Coventry, Munich, Naples, Mantova, Lyon, Follonica, Paris, Kristiansand, Noli, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Amsterdam, Beirut, Budapest, Skanderborg, Baia, London, Mykonos, Geneva, Lausanne, Stockholm, Manchester, Brussels, Bologna, Hongkong, Letterkenny, Aix-en-Provence, Reims, Moscow and Genova.

George has played a special residency at the Shaw Theatre in London (in which all shows were sold out) from 23 January 2008, followed by a full UK tour.[3] In April 2008, The Biography Channel featured a documentary on the life of Boy George. The North 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 London court case scheduled for November 2008. On 2 July, 6 concert dates in South America were announced. Boy George partcipated in RETROFEST held in Scotland in August 2008,[4] and a 30-date UK tour took place in in October/November 2008.

A new single, called "Yes We Can", has been released on October 12th on many digital outlets like itunes. The video, featuring images of various stars, musicians and politions, has been seen many times on sites like youtube and perezhilton.com . A forthcoming album, named Blahemia, is planned for early 2009.

Reunions

In July 1998, a reunited Culture Club performed three dates in Monte Carlo and then joined Human League and Howard Jones in a "Big Rewind" tour of the US. The following month, the band appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and made an appearance in Britain, their first in 14 years. Later that year, the band had a Top 5 hit in the UK with "I Just Wanna Be Loved" and later a top 30 hit with "Your Kisses are Charity".In 2006, the band decided to again reunite and tour; however, George declined to join them for this tour. As a result, two members of Culture Club replaced George with vocalist Sam Butcher. George has expressed his displeasure at the turn of events.[5] Finally, after one showcase and one live show, that project was shelved.

Personal life

George struggled against his severe heroin addiction for many years.[6] 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, with whom he is very close, in an attempt to save the life of his brother, went on UK national television and blew the whistle on George. Some of George's closest friends had already died of overdoses and the co-writer of the From Luxury to Heartache album, Michael Rudetsky, was found dead of a heroin overdose in George's home in August 1986.

After heavy press coverage in July 1986, Boy George was arrested for heroin possession. Police had code named the project 'Operation Culture' involving the raids of houses and arrests of ex-boyfriend Jon Moss, friend Marilyn, Culture Club backing vocalist Helen Terry, friend Mimi and drug suppliers Ginty and Steve. In 1995, Kirk Brandon, an ex-lover during Boy George's punk days had filed a lawsuit against him for "malicious falsehood" claiming to falsely mentioning a love-affair between them in Boy George's autobiography, Take It Like a Man. George won the suit and Brandon was ordered to pay £200,000 to Virgin Records, EMI Virgin Music and the book publishers for legal costs. Brandon had himself declared bankrupt, which resulted in Boy George paying £60,000+ in legal fees (Boy George with Paul Gorman (2005), Straight, London, Arrow Book).

On 7 October 2005, Boy George was arrested in Manhattan on suspicion of possessing cocaine,[7] and appeared in court on 1 February 2006[8] On 17 June 2006, a Manhattan judge issued a warrant for the arrest of Boy George after the former Culture Club singer failed to appear in court.[9] On 14 August 2006, Boy George reported for garbage duty,[10] picking up trash for the New York City Department of Sanitation as part of his community service. As a result of the media coverage, he was allowed to perform his community service inside the Sanitation Department grounds. This garbage duty was assigned by the court for "wasting police time", after he admitted to falsely reporting a burglary in his Manhattan apartment.[11]

On 6 December 2008, Boy George was convicted of assaulting and falsely imprisoning a Norwegian male prostitute in his home in East London. The court heard that O'Dowd handcuffed Norwegian Audun Carlsen to a wall and beat him with a metal chain as he tried to escape from the flat in Shoreditch, East London after a nude photography session.[12] On 8 October 2007, Boy George was sued by an American club promoter from Warrington and ordered to pay £31,000 in compensation for loss of earnings. Boy George had cancelled his appearance after being arrested for possession of cocaine, only providing ten days' notice. [1] On 13 November 2007, Boy George was charged with falsely imprisoning a 28-year-old man. He was ordered to appear before a court on 22 November. The Sun newspaper reported in April that a Norwegian man, Audun Carlsen, 28, claimed he was chained and threatened at O'Dowd's London flat, where he had gone as a photo model. On 5 December 2008, he was found guilty at Snaresbrook Crown Court, London.[13][12]

Memoirs

Harper Collins published the first autobiography of Boy George, Take It Like a Man, in 1995, written with Spencer Bright. The book was released to coincide with the timing of George's solo album, Cheapness and Beauty, actually released at the same time, dealing with the same themes, and also including a number of photographs as in the book. Take It Like A Man was a bestseller in the UK.

In 2005, Century published Straight, his second autobiographical book, this time written with author Paul Gorman. It stayed in The Sunday Times bestseller list for six weeks. This latter autobiography starts off there where the former had stopped, though the two works are different in style, due to their different co-authors, and all of the chapters do have a title in the 2005 book, while the 1995 autobiography only featured numbered sections.

Gorman has also ghost-written Cry Salty Tears, the memoirs of George's mother Dinah O'Dowd, which was published by Arrow Books, in January 2007. The same year also saw the re-issue of an expanded version of Straight, which was updated so as to include the events that occurred in the two years since its first publication.

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, such as when interviewed by Barbara Walters, he suggested he was bisexual. He gave a famous, often quoted response to an interviewer that he preferred "a nice cup of tea" to sex.[14]

In Take It Like A Man, George told his side of his secret relationship with Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. 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 with a woman to be with George, and that Moss was never comfortable in a same-sex relationship, although Moss was bisexual.

Discography

Studio albums, greatest hits and DJ compilations

Main article: Culture Club

EPs

Singles and/or videoclips

See also: Culture Club
See also: Jesus Loves You (band)

(¤) not released in the UK
(*) as 'Jesus Loves You' in the UK, 'Boy George' in the U.S., and 'Jesus Loves You-A Project by Boy George' in other territories (other tags had 'Jesus Loves You feat. Boy George', but this officially applies to Love Your Brother only)
(**) as 'Jesus Loves You featuring Boy George'
(***) as 'Dubversive featuring Boy George'

Other songs

Non-album songs released on soundtracks

B-Sides not included on albums

Other rare songs

Cameos on charity tracks

Notes

  1. ↑ Boy George with Spencer Bright, Take It Like A Man (Harper Collins, First U.S. Edition, 1995) pp.481-482. On page 482, he says, "I enjoy the rituals of offering obeisances to Krishna and chanting, especially when there are hundreds of devotees jumping and banging drums. At that moment it seems like the human ego is truly transcended. I do find the sexual attitudes far too rigid, though I admit the cycle of desire is fraught with anxiety and disappointment. I don't choose to cut off from it, maybe I enjoy the pain." On page 481 he says, "'Bow Down Mister' swept me up in a spiritual whirl and I became an unlikely queer envoy for Krishna Consciousness."
  2. ↑ Boy George 'enjoyed' street sweep
  3. ↑ Review: Boy George live last night (thelondonpaper)
  4. ↑ "Fact File: Retrofest", Scotland on Sunday, 25 May 2008
  5. ↑ Boy George slams new Club singer
  6. ↑ Boy George with Spencer Bright, Take It Like A Man, London, Sigwick & Jackson, 1995
  7. ↑ "Musician Boy George has appeared in court...", BBC Online Report, 8 October 2008
  8. ↑ "Singer Boy George has had a charge of possessing cocaine dropped by a New York court", BBC News report, 8 March 2006
  9. ↑ "Boy George Angers NYC Judge", wcbstv from AP report, 17 June 2006
  10. ↑ "A feisty Boy George reports for garbage duty", msnbc, 14 August 2006
  11. ↑ DailyMail UK
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Angela Balakrishnan "Boy George guilty of falsely imprisoning male escort", The Guardian, 5 December 2008.
  13. ↑ "Boy George guilty of imprisonment", BBC News (Friday, 5 December 2008). Retrieved on 2008-12-05. 
  14. ↑ Becoming an Icon - A Cup of Tea - Icons of England

References

External links