George Alan O’Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known in music world as Boy George, is an English singer-songwriter and DJ. He was born in a Irish middle class family to a builder Jerry O’Dowd and Dinah O’Dowd. Boy George has compared his family history to a “sad Irish song.”  He rose to fame as the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. He began his solo career in 1987. Boy George grew up in Eltham and was part of the New Romantic movement which emerged in the late 1970s to early 1980s. His androgynous look and style of fashion was greatly inspired by glam rock pioneers David Bowie and Marc Bolan. He formed Culture Club with Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss in 1981. The band’s second album, Colour by Numbers (1983), sold more than 10 million copies worldwide. Their hit singles include “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me”, “Time (Clock of the Heart)”, “I’ll Tumble 4 Ya”, “Church of the Poison Mind”, “Karma Chameleon”, “Victims”, “Miss Me Blind”, “It’s a Miracle”, “The War Song”, “Move Away” and “I Just Wanna Be Loved”.

Boy George was the lead singer of Jesus Loves You between 1989 and 1992 and still performs solo and with Culture Club, who have reformed twice since initially parting ways in 1986. He began his career as a DJ in the mid-1990s. Outside of music, Boy George’s other creative activities involve mixed media art, writing books, designing clothes and photography. He has also made several appearances in television, most recently appearing as a contestant on the 22nd UK series of I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! in November 2022, eventually finishing in 8th place.

As a solo artist, Boy George has released nine studio albums, five compilation albums and forty-eight singles. He has also released seven DJ albums, three EPs and a soundtrack album. His solo hit songs include “Everything I Own”, “Bow Down Mister”, “Generations of Love” and “Love Is Leaving” and “The Crying Game”, from the soundtrack for the film The Crying Game. He was featured as a vocalist on the 1984 charity song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and was the last artist featured on the song to record his lines. Boy George’s music features several genres, including pop, new wave, soul, soft rock, disco and reggae. He has received several awards as a solo artist and as a member of Culture Club. In 2001, he was voted 46th in a BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons. In 2015, Boy George received an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for Outstanding Services to British Music. Read full bio at wiki

Personal life and Sexuality –
Boy George adopted a macrobiotic diet which is based on Zen life style. In 2001, he published the Karma Cookbook, a macrobiotic cookbook co-written with Dragana Brown. Boy George has said: “I’m Catholic in my complications and Buddhist in my aspirations.” Boy George has multiple tattoos, including a Christian cross on the side of his face and a Jewish Star of David tattooed on the top of his head. He has a tattoo of David Bowie on his right arm and one of Marc Bolan on his left.

In the 1980s, much was made of Boy George’s androgynous appearance, and there was speculation about his sexuality. When asked by Joan Rivers in an interview on her show in 1983, “Do you prefer men or women?”, Boy George replied, “Oh both.” In 1985, when asked by Barbara Walters about his sexual orientation, Boy George said he was bisexual and had various girlfriends and boyfriends in the past. In his 1995 autobiography Take It Like a Man, Boy George stated that he was in fact gay, not bisexual, and that he had had secret relationships with punk rock singer Kirk Brandon and Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. He stated that many of the songs he wrote for Culture Club were about his relationship with Moss. In the 2008 documentary Living with Boy George, he talked about his first realization he was gay, when he first told his parents, and why men fall in love with one another as well as with women. As two of the biggest androgynous stars in music, Boy George and Annie Lennox appeared on the cover of Smash Hits magazine in December followed by the cover of Newsweek magazine in January 1984.

Drug and legal troubles-

By the late 1980s, Boy George had been struggling with heroin addiction for several years. He attempted to perform concerts while under its influence. Addictions to other drugs soon followed. In 1986, Boy George was arrested for heroin possession as part of “Operation Culture”.

In 1986, keyboardist Michael Rudetsky, who co-wrote the song “Sexuality” on Culture Club’s From Luxury to Heartache album, was found dead of a heroin overdose in Boy George’s London home. Boy George’s friend Mark Vaultier and another friend, Mark Golding, died of an overdose in 1986. During this period Boy George decided to seek treatment for his addiction.

On 7 October 2005, Boy George was arrested in Manhattan on suspicion of cocaine possession and falsely reporting a burglary. Boy George denied that the drugs were his. In court on 1 February 2006, the cocaine possession charge was dropped and Boy George pleaded guilty to falsely reporting a burglary. He was sentenced to five days of community service, fined US$1,000 and ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation programme.

Assault and false-imprisonment conviction-

On 5 December 2008, Boy George was convicted in Snaresbrook Crown Court, London, of the April 2007 assault and false imprisonment of Audun Carlsen, a Norwegian model and male escort, who initially stood for a photography session with Boy George. On 16 January 2009, Boy George was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment for these offences. He was initially incarcerated at HM Prison Pentonville in London, but was then transferred to HM Prison Highpoint North in Suffolk. He was given early release after four months on 11 May 2009. He was required to wear an ankle monitor and submit to a curfew for the remainder of his sentence.

Birth Chart of Boy George –