Biography of Culture Club

Culture Club was a successful pop/rock group of the early '80s, led by singer Boy George O'Dowd (b.Jun 14, 1961). It was as well known for O'Dowd's flamboyant fashion sense as it was for its music, but when it was hot, it was hot: Culture Club racked up six straight Top Ten hits in 1983-1984. The group was formed in London in 1981. In addition to O'Dowd, it consisted of bassist Mikey Craig (b.Feb 15, 1960), guitarist Roy Hay (b.Aug 12, 1961), and drummer Jon Moss (b.Sep 11, 1957). They topped the charts with their debut single, "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me." The band's visual flair helped them in the U.S., where music video had recently become an important promotional tool, and the single hit Stateside by early 1983.Culture Club's music was light, bouncy pop, topped by O'Dowd's appealing tenor. It was anything but outrageous, although O'Dowd's elaborate costumes made the group seem more daring than it was. Kissing to be Clever, their debut album, was a million-seller and included "I'll Tumble 4 Ya," another Top Ten hit. The fall of 1983 brought a second album, Colour by Numbers, and more hits: "Church of the Poison Mind," "Karma Chameleon" (a #1), and "Miss Me Blind."Unfortunately, the group's very novelty was its undoing. The third album, Waking Up with the House on Fire (1984) went platinum by momentum but its singles were not big hits, and the fourth album, From Luxury to Heartache, was a relative flop in 1986, the same year O'Dowd's heroin addiction became a matter of public knowledge. In 1987 O'Dowd cleaned up, split up Culture Club, and embarked on a solo career. ~ William Ruhlmann