Boy George

His great uncle Thomas Bryan was executed at Mountjoy Prison in 1921 during the Irish War of Independence.

He also has an older half-brother, who was born out of wedlock in Dublin in 1957 when his mother was just 18; she moved to London with him to start a new life and escape the stigma of being an unmarried mother.

Boy George has compared his family history to a "sad Irish song."

His maternal grandmother was permanently taken from her family at age six after being found outside the family home alone, and placed into an Industrial School.

George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, actor, DJ and lead singer of the English pop band Culture Club.

Boy George was born George Alan O'Dowd at Barnehurst Hospital, Kent, England, on 14 June 1961 and raised in Eltham, the second of five children born to builder Jerry O'Dowd (born Jeremiah; 1932–2004) and Dinah O'Dowd (born Christina Glynn; 1939–2023 ).

He was raised in a working-class Irish Catholic family; his father was born in England of Irish descent and his mother was from Dublin.

He has one older brother, two younger brothers and a younger sister.

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.

Boy George was a follower of the New Romantic movement, which was popular in the UK in the early 1980s.

He lived in various squats around Warren Street in Central London.

He and his friend Marilyn were regulars at Blitz, a London nightclub run by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan.

The pop artists that inspired him were Siouxsie and the Banshees, Roxy Music, Patti Smith, and the two major glam rock pioneers, David Bowie, and T. Rex frontman Marc Bolan.

On the impact of Bolan and Bowie on him, Boy George states,

"They represented a kind of bohemian existence that I – at that point – could only imagine living. I loved the music. The first time I ever saw Marc Bolan really, properly was singing 'Metal Guru' and just loved him. I don't think you can separate an artist from what they wear or what they sing – it's kind of the complete package. It's something which is very organic and individual"

Boy George's androgynous style of dressing caught the attention of music entrepreneur Malcolm McLaren (previously the manager of the Sex Pistols), who arranged for Boy George to perform with the group Bow Wow Wow.

Going by the stage name Lieutenant Lush, his tenure with Bow Wow Wow proved problematic with lead singer Annabella Lwin.

Boy George eventually left the group and started his own band with bassist Mikey Craig.

They were joined by Jon Moss (who had drumming stints with the Damned and Adam and the Ants) and then guitarist Roy Hay.

Originally they were named Sex Gang Children, but settled on the name Culture Club, referring to the various ethnic backgrounds of the members.

He formed the 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".

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.

He began his solo career in 1987.

Boy George was the lead singer of Jesus Loves You between 1989 and 1992.

In 1995, Boy George's youngest brother Gerald, who has schizophrenia, was convicted of killing his wife in an episode of paranoia.

He has performed with Culture Club in reunion shows since 1998, and began his career as a DJ in the late 1990s.

Outside of music, Boy George has been involved in many activities, among them songwriting, DJing, 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 of the same name.

In 2001, he was voted 46th in a BBC poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.

According to Boy George's mother, who published a memoir in 2007, Jerry O'Dowd was physically and mentally abusive and beat her even when she was pregnant with Boy George.

Boy George said of his father, "He was a terrible father and a terrible husband."

In 2015, Boy George received an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for Outstanding Services to British Music.