culture club
 George Alan O'Dowd was born in 1961 in Eltham, Kent, England.
George idolised David Bowie and Marc Bolan, and frequented the
London clubs which were to be the focal points of the New Romantic
movement. George was invited to appear with Bow Wow Wow by their
manager Malcolm McLaren (of Sex Pistols fame), where he adopted
the stage name of Lieutenant Lush.
Eventually adopting the name Boy George, he formed a band
called In Praise of Lemmings in 1981, with ex-disc jockey and
bassist Mikey Craig, and guitarist John Suede. Changing their name
to Sex Gang Children, they were joined by drummer Jon Moss (who
had been associated with The Clash and Adam & The
Ants).
The
band was ultimately renamed Culture Club with John Suede departing
in 1981, when he was replaced by Roy Hay. Steve Levine produced
the band's first demos in the EMI studios, and their catchy blend
of pop, reggae and soul soon attracted the attention of Virgin
Records.
Culture Club came to the fore in 1982. George's appeal to men
and women alike was (and indeed still is) enormous. Many have
likened George's singing voice to Smokey Robinson - witness the
classic track Everything I own (I spent on heroin).
In February 1984, Karma Chameleon reached the top of the US
charts as the album Colour By Numbers hovered just behind
Michael Jackson's Thriller on the album listings. Culture
Club also won the Best British Single and Best British Group
awards at the BRIT Awards.
In 1985, following a British tour, the band decided to take a
break. Moss spent the year in production work, Hay formed a band
called This Way Up, and Boy George immersed himself on the club
scene (while co-writing Passing Friend for The Beach
Boys).
George made a move to TV in May 1986 when he appeared in an
episode of The A Team. That same year, the song Move
Away reached Number 12 in the US and Number 7 in the UK. Their
album From Luxury To Heartache also hit the Top 40 in both
countries.
In July, Boy George was arrested on drug possession
charges after keyboardist Michael Rudetski died of an overdose in
George's house. Addicted to heroin, he began a drug rehabilitation
program. Shortly thereafter, George commenced a successful solo
career and Culture Club broke up.
In July 1998 a reunited Culture Club performed three dates in
Monte Carlo and then joined Human League and
Howard Jones in the
"Big Rewind" tour of the US. The following month the
band appeared on Late Night with David Letterman and made their
first live appearance in Britain in 14 years. Later that year the
band had a Top Ten hit in the UK with I Just Wanna Be Loved.
The band went on to tour, then reunited again for a 20th
anniversary concert in 2002 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
This performance was released on DVD the following year. Culture
Club then became inactive again, largely due to Boy George's
successful DJ career.
In October 2005, Boy George was arrested in Manhattan on
suspicion of cocaine possession and falsely reporting a burglary.
George denied that the drug was his but pleaded guilty to falsely
reporting a burglary. He was sentenced to five days of community
service, fined $1,000 and ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation
program. On 14 August 2006, Boy George reported to the New York
Department of Sanitation for his court-ordered community service.
As a result of the swarming media coverage, he was allowed to
finish his community service inside the Sanitation Department
grounds
In 2006, two original members of Culture Club (Craig and Moss),
tried to launch a new tour with another lead singer (Sam Butcher)
as Boy George and Roy Hay had declined to tour. George
expressed his displeasure in the press. A UK tour was
announced for December 2006 but was postponed to give the new
line-up time to finish recording their album. In 2007, band
manager Tony Gordon said that the project was "on hold,"
while drummer Jon Moss stated that the project was shelved.
On 5 December 2008, Boy George was convicted in London of
assault and false imprisonment of a man called Audun Carlsen. On
16 January 2009, he was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment for
this offence. Initially sent to Pentonville prison in London, he
was later transferred to HMP Edmunds Hill in Newmarket, Suffolk (a
category C prison).
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