Portal:1980s/Selected biography/8
Boy George (born George Alan O'Dowd; 14 June 1961) is an English singer-songwriter, DJ, fashion designer, and photographer. He is the lead singer of the Grammy- and Brit Award-winning pop band Culture Club. At the height of the band's fame, during the 1980s, they recorded global hit songs such as "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me", "Time (Clock of the Heart)", and "Karma Chameleon", and George was known for his soulful voice and androgynous appearance. He was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the late 1970s to the early 1980s.
His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by rhythm and blues and reggae. He was lead singer of Jesus Loves You during the period 1989–1992. His 1990s and 2000s-era solo music has glam influences, such as David Bowie and Iggy Pop. More recently, he has released fewer music recordings, splitting his time between songwriting, DJing, writing books, designing clothes, and photography.
Boy George was born George Alan O'Dowd in Eltham, London, UK, on 14 June 1961, to Jeremiah and Dinah O'Dowd, and had four brothers and one sister.
George was a follower of the New Romantic movement which was popular in Britain in the early 1980s. He lived in various squats around Warren Street in Central London. He and his friend Marilyn were regulars at Blitz, a London nightclub run by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan. The pop artists that inspired him were Siouxsie and the Banshees, David Bowie, T. Rex, Roxy Music and Patti Smith.
Boy George's androgynous style of dressing caught the attention of music executive Malcolm McLaren (previously the manager of the Sex Pistols), who arranged for George to perform with the group Bow Wow Wow. Going by the stage name Lieutenant Lush, his tenure with Bow Wow Wow proved problematic with lead singer Annabella Lwin. George eventually left the group and started his own band with bassist Mikey Craig. They were joined by Jon Moss (who had drumming stints with The Damned and Adam and the Ants), and then guitarist Roy Hay. Realizing they had a cross-dressing Irish singer (George), a black-Briton (Craig), a Jewish drummer (Moss), and an ethnic Englishman (Hay), they settled on the name Culture Club, referring to the various ethnic backgrounds of the members. (Full article...)