Former ‘Culture Club' singer, DJ and popculture icon Boy George will appear in New Zealand next month, for the first time ever. George's one-off New Zealand DJ set is planned for Auckland's St James Theatre on Friday 23 February. Born George O'Dowd in London, England on 14 June 1961, George formed band Culture Club along with drummer Jon Moss in 1982. The band was named Culture Club because it featured an Irish lead singer, a Jamaican-Briton on bass, a Jewish drummer, and an English guitar player. Unexpectedly, the band's third single ‘Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?' became a global hit, peaking at #1 in dozens of countries. The album ‘Kissing To Be Clever' in 1982 went on to become the first debut album since The Beatles to produce three Top 10 hits in the US. With his androgynous style and quick-witted personality, Boy George became a household name. Karma Chameleon, the first single off Culture Club's second album ‘Colour By Numbers' in 1983, became their biggest hit, and remains one of the most played songs from the 80s. Culture Club broke up in 1986 after Boy George's secret relationship with drummer Jon Moss unraveled and he began to use heroin. British tabloids accompanied photographs of the obviously dependent Boy George with predictions the star had one week to live. There had always been speculation about sexuality. In interviews, Boy George often suggested he was bisexual and once famously claimed that “I prefer a nice cup of tea to sex”. He finally came out as gay in his best-selling autobiography ‘Take It Like a Man'. Boy George started spinning records professionally in the early 90s and is now one of the world's most in-demand DJs. “Being in the DJ booth,” he says, “is one of the few places that you have complete freedom.” Since 2004, Boy George has his own edgy fashion line called ‘B-Rude', which has had showings in New York, and London Fashion Week. Earlybird tickets for his one-off Auckland event will be made available at the St. James Theatre office, or through Ticket Direct, for $39.90 plus a booking fee. Ref: GayNZ.com (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Thursday, 11th January 2007 - 12:00pm