Unrecoupable One Man Bandit 1996-1998 Click cover to BUY |
Boy
George's first television appearance was a bit like the Kennedy assassination. People know
where they were when it happened. Top of the Pops viewers had never seen anything like it.
Most of the eight million watching thought he was a girl. |
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Much to his
disappointment, the boy was born George Alan O'Dowd on June 14 1961 in Eltham, Kent. If
George had had his way, he would have been born Shirley Bassey.
As a teenager, George became a familiar freaky face in London clubs such as Heaven and Blitz. Dreadlocked and dressed in a frock, George soon caught the attention of ex-Sex Pistol manager Malcolm McLaren who invited him to join Bow Wow Wow in 1980. Soon after, George formed his own band, Culture Club, and got signed-up by Richard Branson’s Virgin record label. Suddenly Culture Club took off and George’s gender bending garments ensured the band regularly made the headlines as well as the top ten.
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Culture Club Greatest Moments Box Set Click cover to BUY |
Culture
Club reached the zenith of their success in 1985 with the number one smash ‘Karma
Chameleon’. But after numerous hit singles and three albums the strain of success,
and the cracks of excess, began to show. It soon became clear that George was a junkie. In
1986, a friend of George’s, Michael Rudetsky, died of a heroin overdose while staying
at the singer’s home. |
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Around the same time, George was convicted of possession of
smack. Luckily, George managed to kick the habit and embrace Buddhism. In 1989 having
formed a new band, Jesus Loves You, George launched his own record label, More Protein.
Today, George is as well known as a DJ as he is a singer and regularly plays the UK’s top clubs. He’s also become a vocal campaigner of gay equality - most notably as a fierce opponent of Section 28. At the end of last year George confronted homophobic tycoon Brian Souter on BBC TV’s Question Time, asking the audience: "If Brian was a wealthy racist, would we all be sitting here saying he has a right to express his views?" Despite a high political profile, George doesn’t like to be regarded as a gay activist. "There’s so much more to me than my sexuality." And don’t we just love him for it.
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