Boy George
(born George Alan O'Dowd
14 June 1961) is an English singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by rhythm and blues and reggae. His 1990s and 2000s-era solo music has glam influences such as David Bowie and Iggy Pop. He also founded and was lead singer of Jesus Loves You during the period 1989–1992. Being involved in many activities (among them songwriting, DJing, writing books, designing clothes and photography), he has released fewer music recordings in the last decade.
On 11 May 2009, Boy George was released from prison at HMP Edmunds Hill in Newmarket, Suffolk, four months into a fifteen-month sentence for the assault and false imprisonment of a male escort in his East London flat. He will wear an ankle monitor and be placed on a curfew for the balance of the sentence. [1]
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Career
Culture Club
Boy George was born George Alan O'Dowd at Barnhurst Hospital in Bexley, London on 14 June 1961, to Gerald and Dinah (née Glynn) O'Dowd
[2], who were originally from
Thurles,
County Tipperary in Ireland.
[3] He is one of six children. His siblings are Richard, Kevin, David, Gerald, and Siobhan.
He was a follower of the
New Romantic movement which was popular in Britain in the early 1980s. O'Dowd and his friend
Marilyn were regulars at
The Blitz
, a trendy London nightclub run by
Steve Strange of the group
Visage.
[4] O'Dowd and Marilyn also worked at the nightclub as cloakroom attendants.
Boy George's androgynous style of dressing caught the attention of music executive
Malcolm McLaren (previously the inspiration behind the
Sex Pistols), who arranged for O'Dowd to perform with the group
Bow Wow Wow, featuring
Annabella Lwin. Boy George's association with Bow Wow Wow ended soon afterwards, and he started his own group with bassist
Mikey Craig. The group was to be called 'In Praise of Lemmings', but the name was later abandoned.
Jon Moss (who had been the drummer with
The Damned,
Adam and the Ants and
London) then joined the group. The final member to join the band was
Roy Hay. The group abandoned another name,
Sex Gang Children, and settled on the name
Culture Club, referring to the
ethnic background of the members; a transvestite Irish singer (George), a Jamaican-Briton (Craig), the Jewish drummer (Moss), and an Anglo-Saxon Englishman (Hay).
The band signed with
Virgin Records in the UK, and with
Epic Records in the US and released its debut album
Kissing to Be Clever
in 1982. The single "
Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?", reached #1 in a dozen countries around the world, and #2 in the United States. This was followed by the Top 10 hit "Time (Clock of the Heart)" in the US and UK, and I"ll Tumble 4 Ya" which reached US #9. This gave Culture Club the distinction of being the first group since
the Beatles to have three Top 10 hits in the US from a debut album.
Their next album,
Colour By Numbers
was an enormous success. The single "Church of the Poison Mind" (featuring
Helen Terry) became a Top 10 hit, and "
Karma Chameleon" became a #1 single in sixteen countries, including the US, where it stayed at #1 for three weeks. It was the best-selling single of the year in the UK, spending six weeks at
#1. "Miss Me Blind" and "It's a Miracle" were Top 5 and Top 20 hits respectively, and "Victims" was another UK hit.
George co-wrote the group's contributions to the movie soundtrack
Electric Dreams
, the songs "The Dream" and "Love is Love", were written solely by George and Roy Hay. Moreover, the
P. P. Arnold song "Electric Dreams" was credited only to George and Phil Pickett. The band's third album
Waking Up with the House on Fire
featured the hit single "The War Song", but sales of the album were not as strong as the first two. George also had a lead vocal role on the
Band Aid international hit single "
Do They Know It's Christmas". Proceeds from the single were donated to feed famine victims in
Africa. In 1986, George guest-starred on an episode of the television action-drama
The A-Team
, in which he played himself. The episode was entitled "Cowboy George".
George had been occasionally using drugs, but by 1985 he had developed a heroin addiction. The group's next album
From Luxury To Heartache
featured the hit single "Move Away", but once again did not match their earlier success. George was arrested by the British police for possession of cannabis. Keyboardist Michael Rudetski, who co-wrote and played on the song "Sexuality" on Culture Club's
From Luxury to Heartache
album, was found dead of a heroin overdose in George's home in
London. This followed a second death, friend Mark Vaultier, who overdosed on
methadone and
Valium at a party Boy George was attending, but was arrested en-route on suspicion of carrying drugs. Culture Club disbanded several months after the release of their fourth album.
Solo career: the 1980s
His heroin addiction still a problem and a subsequent dependence on prescription narcotics emerging, George started recording his first solo album. In 1987,
Sold
was released and George enjoyed several hit singles including "Everything I Own" (UK #1), "Keep Me In Mind" (UK #29), "To be Reborn" (UK #13) as well as the title song (UK #24). Despite UK success, George never managed to duplicate his success in the United States; he was not able to work in America because of the previous year's drug charges. He did have a Top 40 hit with the single "Live My Life" (#40 US) from the
Hiding Out
soundtrack. His second US album
High Hat
was composed of various songs from two of his solo British albums released after
Sold
. The first single from "High Hat" entitled "Don't Take My Mind On A Trip", produced by
Teddy Riley, became a Top 5 R&B hit. His following release was a
protest song against the governing UK
Conservative Party's legal restrictions on anyone working for a local authority "promoting"
homosexuality, 'No
Clause 28 (Emilio Pasquez Space Face Full Remix)' was an underground
acid house hit.
In 1989, George formed his own label,
More Protein and recorded under the name
Jesus Loves You, (writing under the pseudonym Angela Dust). He released two other underground club songs "After The Love" and "Generations Of Love", and "Bow Down Mister". With "Bow Down Mister", he returned to the UK top 30 in 1991. Inspired by his involvement in the
Hare Krishna movement (
ISKCON),
[5] George had written the song during a trip to India. A third single taken from it, "One On One" became popular in its single version, remixed by
Massive Attack).
below =
Problems listening to this file? See media help.
Solo career: the 1990s
From March 1990 to April 1991, George presented a weekly chat and music show on the
Power Station satellite channel called
Blue Radio
. In 1992, George had a hit with the song "
The Crying Game" (produced by the
Pet Shop Boys), which was featured in the movie of the same name, and reached the top-twenty of the US Hot 100. Although he had had several solo hits in the UK, this would be his first and only big US hit since the Culture Club song "Move Away" reached the Top 20 in America in 1986.
George made many recordings between 1990 and 1994, but none were issued. A pop and
world music-oriented album was scheduled for release by
Jesus Loves You in 1992, named "Popularity Breeds Contempt", but never came out. Only three tracks with their respective remixed versions survived, ending up on the "Sweet Toxic Love" EP, released in the last year of the 1990 year (which only reached #65 in the UK Chart). The album (the tentative title of which, "Popularity Breeds Contempt", also survived as opening line spoken at the beginning of the 1993 collection called
At Worst: The Best of Boy George and Culture Club
) was shelved, as it were, in favour of the recent growing interest in rock for George.
He released a rock-driven
Cheapness and Beauty
in 1995, but the album was not successful, although "Same Thing in Reverse" did become a minor US hit. A follow-up to
Cheapness And Beauty
, tentatively named "Too Spooky" was recorded in spring 1996, but it was shelved. Some of the tracks from those sessions appeared later on
The Unrecoupable One Man Bandit Volume One
, which was at first sold on the internet only and then distributed by several minor labels. Another project from the time was a new group that would include Boy George and two long-time musicians, John Themis and Richie Stevens. Initially named "Shallow", it was later re-named "Dubversive". The project took place in 1997 and was to include trip-hop, dub and reggae. The project was shelved, this time due to a lack of interest by record companies because of the group's lack of commercial appeal. Some songs from those sessions surfaced later on the 2002 Culture Club Box set and some others appeared on eBay in 2004.
On some other labels, several dance-oriented tracks were released in various countries. For example, "Love is Leaving" went top 3 in Italy and "When Will You Learn" reached the top positions in the Switzerland charts. "When Will You Learn" was also nominated for the Best Dance Recording, at the Grammy Awards. In 1999, Boy George collaborated on songs with dance-oriented acts. For example, "Why Go," a slow-paced track with
Faithless, from their Sunday 8 PM LP, was later released in a remixed form in some European countries and Australia. A track was done with
Groove Armada, named "Innocence Is Lost", but was only released on a promo 12" in 1999.
Solo career: the 2000s
Despite his lack of solo success, Boy George remained a figure in the public eye. Although he never reached the same level of success as in the 1980s, he has enjoyed a second career as a notable music DJ. He started DJing in the early 1990s and came to the attention of legendary rave/house promoters
Fantazia who asked him to mix 1 of the discs on the 2 volume in their new compilation series
Fantazia The House Collection 2. This compilation was a success in the UK, going gold. The album was also sold to Sony for European-wide release. London nightclub
Ministry of Sound hired him to compile one of their first CDs, and it promptly sold 100,000 copies. He then completed some compilations for them, five of them being the Annual I to V. In 2002/2003 he starred in the London musical
Taboo,
based on his life (George didn't play himself, opting instead to take on the persona of Australian-born performance artist
Leigh Bowery). Boy George was nominated for a Tony Awards for the "Best Musical Score" and
Taboo
was a great success in London's West End, though a heavily altered
Rosie O'Donnell-produced run in New York was short-lived (100 performances only, against the two-year run in England).
In 2002, Boy George released
U Can Never B2 Straight
, an "unplugged" collection of rare and lesser known acoustic works. It contained unreleased tracks from previous years as well as some ballads from
Cheapness And Beauty
and the Culture Club album
Don't Mind if I Do
. It received the best reviews of Boy George's solo career, many of them highlighting his strong song writing abilities. The record was only released in the UK and Japan, and received almost no promotion from Virgin Records, only rising to #147 on the UK album charts.
From 2002 to 2004, under the pseudonym "the Twin", Boy George experimented in electronica, releasing limited edition 7" singles and promo records. Performed in small venues such as the Nag Nag Club, the material was considered innovative, but not commercially marketable. This period, however, was a very creative and liberating one for George; for "the Twin," could sing whatever he wanted. The limited releases included four 500 to 520 copies 7", one limited 12" (for Sanitized) and a promo CD, 1000 copies 13-track album
Yum Yum
. Two years later, it was released via digital outlets like
iTunes. An album recorded in the Spring of 2003 was also shelved. A collaboration with electronic combo T-Total, the album was a collection of covers of songs by
Jefferson Airplane,
David Bowie,
John Lennon,
Dusty Springfield,
T.Rex, and the
Eurythmics among others. It is suggested that Boy George's numerous abandoned projects are due to his broad interest and need to explore other creative mediums such as photography, writing, and fashion.
During 2003, he presented a weekly show on London radio station
LBC 97.3 for six months. He wrote the foreword for a
feng shui book called
Practical Feng Shui
by Simon G. Brown (published in 1998). He also appeared as a guest on the British comedy-talk show
The Kumars at No. 42
. In March 2005 he was the guest host for an episode of
The Friday Night Project
, for
Channel 4 television.
On his "More Protein" website, George did announce another unreleased album, named
Straight
, for mid-2005. It was to include tracks such as "Panic" and "Talking Love". Fortunately, four tracks were released as a sampler with the book of the same name in 2005. A reggaeton oriented EP was also planned for August 2006 but was never released. Some recent tracks were shared by George himself in late 2006 and early 2007 on his
YouTube account, his three
myspace pages and sometimes on his official site.In January 2007, Boy George released "Time Machine" on Plan A Records. "Time Machine" was co-written by double
Ivor Novello Award-winning songwriter
Amanda Ghost who also co-wrote "
You're Beautiful" with
James Blunt.
[6]
On 20 October 2006, it was announced that he will write some tracks for
Kylie Minogue () with Amanda Ghost. The songs eventually were not included on her 2007 album. It was not the first time that George wrote songs to other artists; in the past, he shared compositions with
the Beach Boys,
Caron Wheeler,
Charlotte Church,
Mica Paris and many others. He also wrote many of the tracks for the artists on his own dance oriented music label, More Protein, such as
Eve Gallagher, Zee Asha, Lippy Lou, and E-Zee Possee.
Boy George has run his own fashion line for some years, namely "B-Rude". B-Rude has shown at fashion shows in London, New-York and Moscow. He is working right now on a forthcoming solo LP, which apparently will be including some ragga, reggae, pop and acoustic songs. On 24 December 2006, George appeared on a one-off BBC TV programme
Duet Impossible
where he performed with himself from the 1980s and joked about his street cleaning.
Later in 2007, two electronica/dance collaborations were released in limited editions. In the spring, the track "You're Not The One" was remixed from an old demo and released with the dance combo "Loverush UK" reaching the top 20 in the UK dance chart. It was a digital-only release, available in many digital retailers like iTunes. Also on iTunes, a new collaboration with trip-hop/electro band Dark Globe, called "Atoms", was released on 19 November. The single contains eight versions, from the slow original to electro remixes by Ariya and Henrik Schwarz. That EP would have included new remixes of tracks like "Turn 2 Dust", remixes of covers like "Don't Wanna See Myself" and "Go Your Own Way", and most of the versions included would have been remixes done by German producer Kinky Roland.
On 25 February 2007, George was special guest DJ at LGBT nightspot, The Court Hotel in Perth, Western Australia. On 4 March 2007, George performed as a DJ at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney for the
Mardi Gras Festival. On 11 May 2007, George performed as a DJ at the launch party for the
Palazzo Versace in
Dubai,
UAE. George cancelled his planned 2007 October tour via an announcement on his official website. In 2007: George toured as a DJ, visiting Florence, Stuttgart, Rotterdam, Toulouse, Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne, Syndey, Dubai, Skopje, Niagara Falls, Montreal, Toronto, Cagliari, Blackpool, Coventry, Munich, Naples, Mantova, Lyon, Follonica, Paris, Kristiansand, Noli, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Amsterdam, Beirut, Budapest, Skanderborg, Baia, London, Mykonos, Geneva, Lausanne, Stockholm, Manchester, Brussels, Bologna, Hongkong, Letterkenny, Aix-en-Provence, Reims, Moscow and Genova.
George has played a special residency at the Shaw Theatre in London (in which all shows were sold out) from 23 January 2008, followed by a full UK tour.
[7] In April 2008,
The Biography Channel featured a documentary on the life of Boy George. The North American tour which was planned for July/August 2008 had to be cancelled because he had been denied a United States visa due to a London court case scheduled for November 2008. On 2 July, 6 concert dates in South America were announced. Boy George participated in RETROFEST held in Scotland in August 2008,
[8] and a 30-date UK tour took place in in October/November 2008.
Reunions
In July 1998, a reunited
Culture Club performed three dates in Monte Carlo and then joined
the Human League and
Howard Jones in a "Big Rewind" tour of the US. The following month, the band appeared on
The Late Show with David Letterman
and made an appearance in Britain, their first in 14 years. Later that year, the band had a Top 5 hit in the UK with "I Just Wanna Be Loved" and later a top 30 hit with "Your Kisses are Charity". In 2006, the band decided to again reunite and tour; however, George declined to join them for this tour. As a result, two members of Culture Club replaced George with vocalist Sam Butcher. George has expressed his displeasure at the turn of events.
[9] Finally, after one showcase and one live show, that project was shelved.
Personal life
George struggled against his severe
heroin addiction for many years.
[10] He appeared in public under the influence of the drug, and attempted to perform concerts under its influence. Addictions to other drugs followed. Motivated by a desire to save George's life, his younger brother David made an appearance on UK national television and blew the whistle on George's drug habit. Michael Rudetsky, a close friend of George's and the co-writer of the
From Luxury to Heartache
album, was found dead of a heroin overdose in George's home in August 1986.
In 1986, Boy George was arrested for
heroin possession as part of 'Operation Culture'.
[11]
In 1995,
Kirk Brandon sued for libel claiming that Boy George mentioned a non-existent love affair between them in his autobiography,
Take It Like a Man
. George won the case and Brandon was ordered to pay £200,000 to
Virgin Records, EMI Virgin Music and the book publisher in costs. Brandon declared himself bankrupt, which resulted in Boy George paying over £60,000 in legal fees (
Boy George with Paul Gorman (2005), Straight, London, Arrow Book
).
On 7 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.
[12] In court on 1 February 2006, the cocaine possession charge was dropped and George plead 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.
[13]
On 17 June 2006, a Manhattan judge issued a warrant for the arrest of Boy George after he failed to appear in court for a hearing on why George wanted to change his sentence for the false burglary report. George's attorney informed the court that he had advised George not to appear at that hearing.
[14]
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.
[15]
On 5 December 2008, Boy George was convicted in Snaresbrook Crown Court, London, of assault and false imprisonment of Audun Carlsen.
[16] On 16 January 2009, he was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment for this offence.
[17] Initially sent to
HMP Pentonville in London, he was later transferred to HMP
Edmunds Hill in Newmarket, Suffolk (a
category C prison).
[18]
On 11 May 2009, Boy George was released after serving four months of his fifteen-month custodial sentence at HMP
Edmunds Hill. He was released on home detention curfew and is required to wear an ankle monitoring tag for 90 days (August 9, 2009).
[19]
Memoirs
Harper Collins published the first
autobiography of Boy George,
Take It Like a Man
, in 1995, written with
Spencer Bright. The book was released to coincide with the timing of George's solo album,
Cheapness and Beauty
, actually released at the same time, dealing with the same themes, and also including a number of
photographs as in the book.
Take It Like A Man
was a bestseller in the UK.
In 2005,
Century published
Straight
, his second autobiographical book, this time written with author
Paul Gorman. It stayed in
The Sunday Times
bestseller list for six weeks. This latter autobiography starts off there where the former had stopped, though the two works are different in style, due to their different co-authors, and all of the chapters do have a title in the 2005 book, while the 1995 autobiography only featured numbered sections.
Gorman has also ghost-written
Cry Salty Tears
, the memoirs of George's mother
Dinah O'Dowd, which was published by
Arrow Books, in January 2007. The same year also saw the publication of
Straight
in paperback. It was originally supposed to be updated, but Boy George declined to do so since he felt the book was too bitter and negative about other people, and he regretted writing it.
Sexual orientation
When George was with Culture Club, much was made of his
androgynous appearance, and there was speculation about his sexuality. When asked the question in interviews, George gave various answers. At times, such as when interviewed by
Barbara Walters, he stated he was
bisexual . He gave a famous, often quoted response to an interviewer that he preferred "a nice cup of tea" to sex.
[20]
In
Take It Like A Man
, George told his side of his secret relationship with Culture Club drummer
Jon Moss. He stated many of the songs he wrote for Culture Club were directed at Moss. He also alleged that Moss had broken off his engagement with a woman to be with George, but that Moss was never comfortable in a same-sex relationship, although Moss was
bisexual.
In 2006, in an episodic Documentary Directed by Simon George titled "The Madness of Boy George", George declared on camera he was "militantly gay".
[21] In a 2008 Documentary Directed by Mike Nicholls titled "Living With Boy George", George discusses when he first realized he was gay, as well as, when he first told his parents he was gay. He discusses that he does understand why men fall in love with one another, as well as with women.
[22]
Discography
Studio albums, greatest hits and DJ compilations
- 1987 - Sold
[UK #29 (Silver), U.S. #145, Switzerland #15, Norway #15, Sweden #18, Italy #22]
- 1988 - Tense Nervous Headache
(not in the U.S)
- 1989 - Boyfriend
(not in the U.S.)
- 1989 - High Hat
(selected tracks from Tense Nervous Headache
and Boyfriend
, for America only) [U.S. #126]
- 1990 - The Martyr Mantras
(released as Jesus Loves You in the UK) [UK #60]
- 1992 - Spin Dazzle
(Culture Club & Boy George joint compilation)
- 1993 - At Worst... The Best of Boy George and Culture Club
[UK #24, U.S. #169 (Gold)]
- 1995 - Cheapness and Beauty
[UK #44]
- 1995 - Fantazia House Collection 2
(as DJ)
- 1998 - The Unrecoupable One Man Bandit
(studio album by fans request)
- 1999 - Everything I Own
(Boy George solo greatest hits and stand-out tracks compilation)
- 1999 - Galaxy Mix
(as DJ)
- 2001 - Essential Mix
(as DJ)
- 2002 - Taboo Original London Cast
(soundtrack of West End show)
- 2002 - Classic Masters
(compilation)
- 2002 - A Night Out with Boy George - A DJ Mix
(as DJ)
- 2002 - A Night In with Boy George - A Chillout Mix
(as DJ)
- 2002 - U Can Never B2 Straight
[UK #147]
- 2002 - Culture Club Box Set
(contains many unreleased solo and band tracks, demos and remixes)
- 2002 - In & Out with Boy George - A DJ Mix
(as DJ) (double CD collecting A Night Out...
and A Night In with Boy George
)
- 2003 - BoyGeorgeDJ.Com
(as DJ)
- 2004 - Taboo Original Broadway Cast
(soundtrack of Broadway show)
- 2004 - Yum Yum
(as The Twin)
- 2004 - The Annual 1, 2, 3, 4
- 2004 - Dance Nation 1, 2, 4, 5
EPs
- 1994 - The Devil in Sister George EP
(1993-1994) [UK #26]
- 2004 - Made To Measure
(As The Twin, Limited edition promo sampler)
- 2005 - Straight EP
(included in the book of the same name)
- 2007 - Boy George & Kinky Roland EP
(AKA Disco Abomination) (Limited edition promo sampler)
Singles and/or videoclips
- 1987 - Everything I Own
[UK #1 (Silver), U.S. Dance #45, Europe #1, Canada #1, Germany #8, Switzerland #8, Italy #1, Eire #1, Norway #1, South Africa #1, Europe #1 (2 weeks), Holland #3, Sweden #8, Austria #12, Poland #28, Brazil top 10]
- 1987 - Keep Me in Mind
[UK #29, Italy #3]
- 1987 - Sold
[UK #24, Italy #4, Ireland #8]
- 1987 - To Be Reborn
[UK #13, Italy #13, Ireland #8]
- 1987 - Live My Life
[UK #62, U.S. #40, US R&B #21, Canada #9]
- 1988 - No Clause 28
[UK #57]
- 1988 - Don't Cry
[UK #60, Italy #13]
- 1989 - Don't Take My Mind on a Trip
[UK #68, U.S. R&B #5, Canada Dance #17]
- 1989 - Whether They Like It or Not
(¤)
- 1989 - You Found Another Guy
[U.S. R&B #34]
- 1989 - Whisper
(video only in the UK)(¤)
- 1989 - You Are My Heroin
(¤)(video only)
- 1989 - Something Strange Called Love
(¤) (Philippines only)
- 1989 - After The Love*
[UK #68]
- 1990 - Generations Of Love*
[UK #80]
- 1990 - One On One*
[UK #83]
- 1991 - Bow Down Mister*
[UK #27, France #8, Austria #2]
- 1991 - Generations Of Love (remix)*
[UK #35]
- 1991 - After The Love (remix)*
- 1992 - The Crying Game
[UK #22, U.S. #15, Canada #1]
- 1992 - Sweet Toxic Love*
[UK #65, Austria #14]
- 1993 - Everything I Own 1993
(US single, promo in the UK)
- 1993 - More Than Likely
(PM Dawn feat. Boy George) [UK #40]
- 1994 - Human Beings
(Gaurangi feat. Boy George)
- 1995 - Funtime
[UK #45]
- 1995 - Il Adore
[UK #50, France #69]
- 1995 - Same Thing in Reverse
[UK #56, U.S. Dance #18]
- 1996 - Sad/Satan's Butterfly Ball
(double-A-side 12" for DJs only)
- 1996 - Love Is Leaving
(¤) [Italy #4, Spain #3]
- 1997 - When Will You Learn
(¤)
- 1997 - Police and Thieves
(***)(US single, promo in UK)
- 1998 - Generations of Love 1998
(*)(¤)
- 1999 - Why Go?
(with Faithless)(¤)
- 1999 - Innocence Is Lost
(with Groove Armada) (12" promo only)
- 2002 - Swallow Me
(as The Real Feminem) (12" promo only)
- 2002 - Out of Fashion
(with Hi-Gate) (promo only)
- 2002 - Run
(with Sash!)(¤) [Germany #48, Croatia #1, Switzerland #98]
- 2002 - Autoerotic
(with Dark Globe) [UK #165]
- 2002 - Psychology of the Dreamer
(with Eddie Locke) [UK Dance #5]
- 2003 - Here Come the Girls
(as The Twin) (limited edition)
- 2003 - Electro Hetero
(as The Twin) (limited edition)
- 2003 - Sanitised
(as The Twin) (limited edition)
- 2004 - Human Racing
(as The Twin) (limited edition)
- 2005 - Love Your Brother
(**) (as Jesus Loves You feat. Boy George) (12" promo only)
- 2006 - You Are My Sister
(with Antony and the Johnsons) [UK #39]
- 2006 - You're Not the One
(with Loverush UK) (promo)
- 2007 - Time Machine
(with Amanda Ghost) (limited edition)
- 2007 - You're Not the One
(with Loverush UK) (digital release only)
- 2007 - Atoms
(with Dark Globe) (digital release only)
- 2008 - Generations Of Love
(with Phunk Investigation) (29 July)
- 2008 - Yes We Can
(Oct 12th) [Europe #204, Slovenia #1]
- 2009 - American Heart
(With Bliss) (April 6)
(¤) not released in the UK
(*) as 'Jesus Loves You' in the UK, 'Boy George' in the U.S., and 'Jesus Loves You-A Project by Boy George' in other territories (other tags had 'Jesus Loves You feat. Boy George', but this officially applies to
Love Your Brother
only)
(**) as 'Jesus Loves You featuring Boy George'
(***) as 'Dubversive featuring Boy George'
Other songs
Non-album songs released on soundtracks
- "Live My Life" on Hiding Out
(1987)
- "Girlfriend" on Slaves of New York
(1989)
- "Fear Not the Sword My Son" on Freddie The Frog
(1992)
- "The Crying Game" on The Crying Game
(1992-1993)
- "Felidae" on Felidae
(1994)
- "Welcome to Your Life" on Welcome to Woop Woop
(1998)
- "Try Not to Be Afraid" on special CD Whistle Down the Wind
(1998)
- "La Barque" on Le Libertin
(2000)
- "Put Yourself Out with the Trash" in Désaccord Parfait
(2007)
B-Sides not included on albums
- "Use Me" on "Everything I Own" (1987)
- "I Pray '87" on "Keep Me in Mind" 12" maxi single (1987)
- "State of Love" on "Keep Me in Mind" (1987)
- "State of Love (Extended Version)" on "Keep Me in Mind" 12" maxi single
- "Are You Too Afraid" on "Sold" (1987)
- "Leave in Love" (with Carroll Thompson) on "Don't Cry" (1988)
- "A Boy Called Alice" on "Don't Cry" CD single (1988)
- "Oh Lord" on "Sweet Toxic Love" 12" (1992)
- "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", double-A-Side with "Il Adore" double CD single (1995)
- "Turn To Dust", on Yes We Can download single #2 (2008)
Other rare songs
- "Something He Can Feel", multi-collaboration on Afrika Bambaata album, The Light
(1988)
- "My Sweet Lord", George Harrison cover on Ruby Trax
(1992)
- "Five", collaboration with Ram Jam World on album Rough and Ready
(1997)
- "Dream", cover of Chage & Aska, (1996)
- "Get It On", T.Rex cover on Duos Taratata
(1996)
- "I Could Be Someone", on Streetwise House Our Youth
(1998)
- "Why Go", slow version on Faithless album Sunday 8PM
(1998)
- "Bad Girl", Madonna cover on Virgin Voices
tribute (1999)
- "Burning Up", duet with Tracy Emin on project We Love You
(1998)
- "In the Ghetto", Elvis Presley cover on Apache Indian album Karma
(2000)
- "Radio One" (as The Hampstead Bowie Clone) digital release (2002)
- "Who Am I Today", collaboration with Erik Morillo, on album My World
(2003)
- "Poverty", collaboration with Hi-Gate on their album Split Personality
(2003)
- "Breakdance Hunks" collaboration with Canadian band Kids On TV (2005)
- "Dragging Me Down", collaboration with Adam Sky, on neo.pop.06
(2006)
- "Idiot Crowd", collaboration with Punx Soundcheck, on When Machines Ruled the World
(2007)
- "American Heart", collaboration with Danish electronic duo Bliss on No One Built This Moment
(2009)
- "J'ai toujours porte Bonheur aux hommes", duet with French singer Regine (2009)
Cameos on charity tracks
- "Do They Know It's Christmas", Band Aid (1984)
- "Let It Be", Ferry Aid (1987)
- "Wishing Well", G.O.S.H. (1987)
- "What's Going On", Life Aid Armenia (1989)
- "Karma Chameleon" for BT Payphones charity (2000)
- "War Is Over", duet with Antony (of Antony & The Johnsons) on War Child album Help
(2005)
- "Grief Never Grows Old", One World Project
(2006)
References
- www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1180468/Out-new-Boy-George-appeared-thinner-healthy-glow-stint-prison.html
- Guardian.com.uk
- www.monstersandcritics.com/people/archive
- www.mostersandcrtics.com/people/archive
- Boy George with Spencer Bright, ''Take It Like A Man'' (Harper Collins, First U.S. Edition, 1995) pp.481-482. On page 482, he says, "I enjoy the rituals of offering obeisances to Krishna and chanting, especially when there are hundreds of devotees jumping and banging drums. At that moment it seems like the human ego is truly transcended. I do find the sexual attitudes far too rigid, though I admit the cycle of desire is fraught with anxiety and disappointment. I don't choose to cut off from it, maybe I enjoy the pain." On page 481 he says, "'Bow Down Mister' swept me up in a spiritual whirl and I became an unlikely queer envoy for Krishna Consciousness."
- Boy George 'enjoyed' street sweep
- Review: Boy George live last night (thelondonpaper)
- "Fact File: Retrofest", ''Scotland on Sunday'', 25 May 2008
- Boy George slams new Club singer
- Boy George with Spencer Bright, ''Take it Like a Man'', London, Sigwick & Jackson, 1995
- Boy George 'chained male escort to a wall in his flat' - Crime, UK - The Independent
- "Musician Boy George has appeared in court...", BBC Online Report, 8 October 2008
- "Singer Boy George has had a charge of possessing cocaine dropped by a New York court", BBC News report, 8 March 2006
- "Boy George Angers NYC Judge", wcbstv from AP report, 17 June 2006
- "A feisty Boy George reports for garbage duty", msnbc, 14 August 2006
- Angela Balakrishna"Boy George guilty of falsely imprisoning male escort", ''The Guardian'', 5 December 2008.
- Boy George jailed for 15 months
- « George 'to serve just four of his 15 months' », ''thesun.co.uk'', 24 January 2009.
- Healthy-looking Boy George salutes freedom as he's released early from prison ''dailymail.co.uk'', 11 May 2009
- Becoming an Icon - A Cup of Tea - Icons of England
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