Boy George is celebrating his fifty third birthday today.
Fresh off a tour to promote his solo album ‘This is What I Do’, George has been back in the studio with a reformed Culture Club.
The band are set to release their first new music since 1999. Speaking to The Mirror earlier this week all four band members shared their excitement about their latest trip into the studio.
As Boy George celebrates his birthday we present 7 Things you might not know about the Culture Club front man.
1. Boy George sang backing vocals for Feargal Sharkey* (except he didn’t see note below)
Back in the mid ’80s Feargal Sharkey, the former lead singer of The Undertones, scored a number one hit with his song ‘A Good Heart’. Boy George sang backing vocals on the track.
2. In the ’90s George used the pseudonym Angela Dust
After several solo albums in the ’80s and early ’90s George began a new electronic music career with band Jesus Loves You. George was credited as Angela Dust. The band had a big club hit with the track ‘Generations of Love’. Angela Dust is also a writer and performer on the controversial club hit ‘Everything Starts With an E’ by the E-Zee Possee.
3. Later George performed as The Twin
When electro music made a big come back at the turn of the century George released a stack of tracks under another moniker, this time he called himself The Twin and released a tune called Yum Yum.
4. George has released two volumes of his auto-biography.
In 1995 George released ‘Take It Like a Man’ the first volume of his autobiography. Later he authored a second book called ‘Straight’ which continues on from the first volume. His mother also released an autobiography called ‘Cry Salty Tears’.
5. George has released covers of songs by Lana Del Ray, Iggy Pop and Nancy Sinatra.
Last year Boy George released his version of the Lana Del Ray track ‘Video Games’ as the b-side to his single ‘My God’. Previously he’s covered Iggy Pop’s ‘Funtime’ and the Nancy Sinatra classic ‘These Boots are Made for Walking’. Last year he also recorded a version of The Stooges ‘I Wanna Be a Dog’ for the British Electric Foundation’s album ‘Dark’. George asl oteamed up with classic violinist Nigel Kennedy to record a version of Nick Drake’s ‘Riverman’.
6. Boy George is prolific on Twitter
Boy George is a huge user of the social networking site Twitter. He posts daily and is incredibly entertaining to follow.
7. George releases one of the coolest podcasts on the net.
George is still one of the most sought after DJs in clubland. He regularly highlights the tracks he’s loving at the moment in his podcast which is called ‘Club Culture Radio with boy George’. You can download it on iTunes or via George’s Mixcloud page. The fourteenth edition just came out and features track from Vanilla Ace, Doorly, Dusky, Second City and Cloud 9.
*Update: 23-03-18 Since this article was published Boy George has told fans that he did not sing on Feargal Sharkey’s song A Good Heart. The suggestion that he had sung on the tune was around for many years, and is still incorrectly reported all over the internet. Thanks to reader Mario for highlighting the news.
Mario also noted that we’d juxtaposed Boy George’s moniker The Twin with the nasme of one of his tracks. Yum Yum, we’ve now fixed this.
