George Alan O'Dowd (born June 14, 1961, in London, United Kingdom), a Irish/British singer, songwriter & DJ who gained fame with his group Culture Club during the 80s. He epitomized the term "blue-eyed soul" and received just as much airplay on R&B radio stations as pop stations.
George's androgynous style caught the attention of music executive Malcolm McLaren, who arranged for George to perform with the group Bow Wow Wow, featuring Annabella Lwin, at various shows. George called himself Lieutenant Lush and nearly stole the spotlight from Lwin. George and Bow Wow Wow didn't last long after that and George started his own group with bassist Mikey Craig. In Praise Of Lemmings was to be the name of the group. Jon Moss (who had drummed with The Damned, Adam and the Ants and London) came aboard. Shortly thereafter, Roy Hay came into the mix, after an association with another guitarist proved unsatifactory, and they abandoned yet another name, Sex Gang Children. After realizing that the group consisted of an Irish transvestite singer, a Jamaican-Briton on bass, a Jewish drummer, and an Englishman on guitar, they settle on the name Culture Club.
The band signed with Virgin Records in the U.K. and with Epic Records in America, as Virgin didn't have a U.S. presence at the time, and released it's debut album "Kissing To Be Clever" in 1982. The first single "White Boy" wasn't a mainstream hit and failed to chart but George was still happy because "five thousand people bought my single and didn't even know me". The next single, "I'm Afraid Of Me" also did not become a pop hit. It wasn't until the release of the third single, "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me", that the group enjoyed massive success. It hit #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 the number two peaking "Time (Clock Of The Heart)" and the number nine "I'll Tumble 4 Ya". 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.
1983 and 1984 saw the group at it's peak, dominating charts, MTV, and magazine covers partly due to the release of it's next album "Colour By Numbers". First single "Church Of The Poison Mind" (featuring Helen Terry) became a Top 10 hit and "Karma Chameleon" hit #1 for four weeks in the U.S. and was the biggest selling UK single of the year, having six weeks at No.1). It also became a #1 single in numerous countries around the world and stands as the group's biggest hit. "Miss Me Blind" and "It's A Miracle" were Top 10 and Top 20 hits respectively and "Victims" was another U.K. hit. The group took home the Grammy for Best New Artist - Duo Or Group and George gave a speech to U.S audiences via satellite; "Thanks America. You've got style and taste, and you know a good drag queen when you see one". Colour By Numbers would go on to sell four million copies in the U.S. at it's time of release and millions more worldwide, making Culture Club the biggest group in the world at the time. Years later, Rolling Stone magazine would include the LP in it's list of Top 100 Albums Of All-Time.
George's striking looks inspired many Boy George look-alike contests around the world, and his face became the image of Culture Club. He became an alternative teen idol, and had the extravagant lifestyle to go with it. His appeal was due to his likeableness and his wit. He is responsible for one of the 1980's most famous quotes, which he delivered to Barbara Walters on a tv interview - "I prefer a nice cup of tea to sex" - which many years later he would say was totally untrue. The fact that he could actually sing and had a distinct soulful voice was a great attribute as well.
By 1985 Boy George had become a household name in many countries around the world. That year he appeared, redheaded, on the Band Aid single to raise money for aid to famine-stricken Ethiopia, with a lead vocal role. The worldwide success of the multi-British and Irish artist single lead to a U.S version, "We Are The World. And in 1986 he guest-starred on an episode of the A-Team entitled "Cowboy George". However, two subsequent Culture Club albums (Waking Up With The House On Fire and From Luxury To Heartache) performed poorly as the band only manage to obtain two more hits; "The War Song" and "Move Away". Throughout the years, George had been involve in a relationship with Culture Club's drummer Jon Moss and when that fizzled, he turned to drugs to ease the pain. This caused the downward spiral of the group and they eventually disbanded, as George could no longer work with Moss. One sign of the group's imminent breakup was that they didn't appear at the Live Aid event, and they were a major act.
George's addiction to heroin was severe and he began an on again-off again fight against the drug for many years. He would appear in public under the influence and even attempted to do concer
