Everything he owns...

Boy George, real name George O’Dowd, is an English singer-songwriter best known for being the charismatic leader of the Culture Club group.

An artistic career that really started long before Culture Club and whose beginnings took place within the Blitz club, the obligatory meeting point of the New Romantic movement. A movement mainly focused on the wearing of effeminate clothes often accompanied by outrageous makeup and of which he quickly became one of the most influential members.

It was Malcolm McLaren, former Sex Pistols producer, who first noticed him in the early 1980s and offered him to join the Bow Wow Wow adventure. Adventure that unfortunately comes to a halt due to a total incompatibility between young George and singer Annabella Lwin.

That’s when the Culture Club adventure began after the singer decided to start his own band with bassist Mikey Craig. Incredible adventure that started in 1981, which would last 5 years and make this group one of the flagship groups of this decade.

A beautiful adventure which is seriously spoiled from 1986 when the singer begins to make the front page of the tabloid in relation to his drug consumption. Added to this is the discovery of the body of American musician Michael Rudetsky who died of overdose in Boy George's own apartment. Two significant facts that will deeply affect the singer, temporarily stifle his career and precipitate the end of Culture Club.

This did not prevent him from coming back a year later in 1987 on the front of the stage and especially solo, after having followed a detoxification treatment. A winning comeback with the release of the album "Sold", an album that will produce 4 top planetary hits including 1 mega with the title "Everything I own". An album that will not be released in the United States because the singer is banned there following the multiple problems he encountered the previous year.

The United States did not quite turn its back on him as he achieved notable success with the title "Live my life" the following year in 1988, which was part of the soundtrack for the film "Hiding out".

The end of the decade will prove to be more complicated to manage than expected with the release of 2 albums which, once again, will not be distributed in the United States. Starting with "Tense nervous headache" in 1988 then "Boyfriend" in 1989. Two albums which will see their success considerably limited by this restriction.

1989 saw him start a new group called Jesus Loves You, a group with which he finally resurfaced two years later in 1991 with the release of the album "The martyr mantras". Album that will produce the top hit "Bow down mister".

The same year, another notorious success with the release of the Single “Generations of love”, still with the same group.

The soundtracks bring him rather luck since he did it again in 1992 with the title "The crying game" for the film of the same name. Title which will know a significant success at the planetary level. But which unfortunately will be his last major because the albums which will be released subsequently will only have very limited success.

To discover or rediscover...

Discography (among others ...) :

80s Decade :

Everything I own 1987
Keep me in mind 1987
Sold 1987
To be reborn 1987
Live my life 1988
No clause 28 1988
Don’t cry 1988
Something strange called love 1988
Don’t take my mind on a trip 1989

90s Decade :

One on one 1990
Bow down mister 1991
Generations of love 1991
The crying game 1992
Funtime 1995
Il adore 1995
Same thing in reverse 1995
Love is leaving 1996
When will you learn 1998

2000s Decade :

If I could fly 2002
She was never he 2002
Yes we can 2008
White Xmas 2009

2010s Decade :

Amazing Grace 2010
Turn 2 dust 2011
King of everything 2013
My god 2014
Nice and slow 2014
God and love 2018
Let somebody love you 2018
Bad blood 2018

2020s Decade :

Star dub 2020
Dub your life 2020
Dub N danger 2020
Shine on 2021
Let the flowers grow 2024

Tracks :

1987 ... first solo title and first global mega hit, just that. All thanks to this sumptuous luxury cover of the Bread title dating from 1972. MAS-TER-FUL !

1987 ... the artist's first - and best - solo year. The top hits follow one another at an impressive speed and even if this title will not have the same level of success as its predecessor, it will also have a nice run in the Charts...

1987 ... already 3 top hits on the clock ! Even if the Culture Club adventure did not have a happier end, the singer still enjoys the support of the public. Hope it lasts ...

1987 ... he will align no less than 3 top hits and 1 mega hit on a planetary level just for this year 1987, a real feat. For an artist who was thought to be finished, he proves here in a striking way that we will have to count on him !

1988 ... the year 1988 is not really going to look like 1987 unfortunately. The quantity of titles produced will be equivalent but it is above all the level of success that will drop considerably. And yet what he continues to offer is far from ridiculous ...

1988 ... he will have been able to adapt perfectly to the new trends of the end of the 1980s, but that will not be enough to get him back to the top. Hard law of the trade ...

1988 ... one wonders if it is the same singer who sings on this title as the voice differs from the previous titles. A change to say the least destabilizing and which will not really benefit him ...

1988 ... a vocal metamorphosis which fortunately lasted only the time of a title. We therefore find the real Boy George on this title which will not even be classified and this despite a certain quality once again...

1989 ... stealthy return to success to end this decade. A year 1989 rich in titles, too, but at the level of success of the most modest. When it doesn't want anymore, it doesn't want anymore ...

1990 ... business picks up somewhat at the start of the new decade. Certainly, in a timid way, but we feel like a thrill of renewal ...

1991 ... a thrill which is confirmed and which especially amplifies in an unexpected way on this somewhat shifted title. Race results : new top hit. Like what, nothing is ever lost !

1991 ... a beautiful and BIG year 1991 year which saw him return to the race in a spectacular way. We thought he was definitely lost, it was without counting on his extreme ability to adapt ...

1992 ... new luxury cover, this time of the title of Dave Berry dating from1964. Covers which bring him particularly luck since he obtains a new top hit thanks to this title

1995 ... big air gap of 3 years and return in a form which will be qualified as average. He plays it to us a luxury cover once again with this revisited version of the Iggy Pop track dating from 1977. But this time the mayonnaise will only take moderately ...

1995 ... a title full of finesse which contrasts radically with what he offered until then. An Intimist area in which he has always shown more than obvious skills !

1995 ... little international success but a level of success that is holding up fairly well across the Channel. Sufficient in any case to continue the adventure a little bit ...

1996 ... the sound is trendy but unfortunately that is not enough anymore. This time, it really smacks of the end ...

1998 ... he hangs on and tries to resist by all means. But he is already part of the past and nothing, and no one, will be able to stop its gradual disappearance from radar. Whatever the case, he will have deeply marked his time, with others or alone, and he is, and will always remain, the perfect embodiment of the excessiveness of the 1980s. A decade truly incredible from all points of view !

2002... even if the success will be very limited from now on, that does not prevent him from continuing the adventure in this new decade 2000. Rightly or wrongly, that's something else...

2002... it is certain that this decade 2000 will not be easy to cross concerning him. But as long as there is life, there is hope as they say...

2008...given what he continues to produce qualitatively, we can only say that he is right to still believe in it ! Admittedly, the best years are now behind him but he still has things to offer, it is clear !

2009...a very personal version of White Christmas, to say the least. But with him, we know that nothing will ever be completely normal, in the best of times as in the worst, that's what always makes him strong and weak...

2010...what we can never take away from him is its originality, often taken to the extreme. A one-of-a-kind model that will have above all succeeded in crossing the decades without falling into excess and excessive cosmetic surgery. Which will not have been the case for many others...

2011...he was born a man and he will remain a man until the end. Others will have attempted total change with often catastrophic physical results. At least he will have managed to maintain a most efficient hybrid system...

2013...he was right to believe it because the 2010 decade will be much more favorable to him than the previous one. Like most of his colleagues at the time who are still there today...

2014... he won't know any more major hits like he knew in the past but the upturn will be real on the album side. An unexpected return to the Charts, to say the least, which rewards a desire to believe in it again and again...

2014...the 2010 decade will allow a good number of artists from the 80s to make an unexpected comeback. Who would've believed that possible...?

2018...and here he is again even within his original group. A return to basics that no one would have thought possible and yet he managed to do it...

2018... he will have achieved this incredible performance of being able to reinvent himself when everyone thought he would never be able to. What talent !

2018...a rebirth that allows him to return to the front of the stage in an impressive way. It remains to be seen if he will succeed in going the distance as they say...

2020...the beginning of the 2020 decade is not really going to be so favorable to him, unfortunately. And yet he is far from demerit, it is clear...

2020... it must be said that this new opus will not necessarily attract the general public but rather fans who are at the very least initiated. Review copy...

2020... anyway, it's not because this opus will pass 'through' that the adventure is far from over. Because with him, nothing is ever over, we know it now...

2021... when 2 of the biggest stars of the 80s decide to push the song together, we imagine that the result will be up to par. And it definitely is ! Waiting for their next collaboration...