WHEN BOY GEORGE WRITES...

 

TAKE IT LIKE A MAN -1995 HARDCOVER : BOY GEORGE & SPENCER BRIGHT

 

 

Notorious for his gender-bending dress sense, at the forefront of the avant-garde 1980s scene, Boy George has been to hell and back since the height of Boy George mania in the early 1980s. Culture Club, George's pioneering band, went into eclipse. His hushed-up relationship with drummer Jon Moss fell apart. George found a new obsession - drugs. The tragic deaths of two close friends and two drug convictions brought shame and despair. This book tells the story of Boy George, of the highs and lows, the family struggles, bully boys and transvestites, friends, lovers and an obsessive media infatuation. George O'Dowd went through the agony of withdrawal and re-evaluated his life. Now, working and successful again, he tells his tale.

Take It Like a Man: Autobiography of Boy George (Paperback)

    US edition

 

  

 French edition ED M. LAFFONT but withdrawn of the sale 1995.

Karma Cookbook (Hardcover) by Boy George (Author), Dragana Brown (Author)

  

When pop icon, Boy George, discovered macrobiotic cooking, it changed his life - bringing him new levels of energy and health. This lively book, packed with anecdotes and reminiscences, blows away the preconception that macrobiotic cooking means bland, worthy dishes of rice and lentils. Instead, George provides us with a selection of more than 100 easy-to-follow delicious recipes, created by his great friend and macrobiotic mentor, Dragana Brown. His choice includes breakfast, lunch and dinner dishes, as well as snacks and desserts and meals that can be eaten while travelling or when company is expected. There is information, too, on selecting ingredients that may be unfamiliar as well as new ways of cooking old favourites and the valuable contribution these particular ingredients make to your diet. In addition to his personal recommendations of individual recipes. George gives us a funny, first-hand account of how macrobiotic food can take its place in the busiest and most demanding modern lifestyle. Explaining that the food you eat affects your body's general wellbeing, George reveals in an unpretentious and light-hearted way, how an enjoyable change of diet can transform your quality of life.

 

STRAIGHT 2005 (BOY GEORGE AND PAUL GORMAN )

In the 13 years since the conclusion of the first part of his memoirs, Take It Like A Man, Boy George has reinvented himself. As that story closed, George was coming to terms with the fall-out from his drug addiction, the failure of his relationship with Jon Moss and the collapse of Culture Club. For lesser men this would have been the end but for George it became the start of a period of startling personal and creative reinvention. Told with George's trademark biting wit, brutal honesty and sparkling insight, this new book will bring his remarkable story up to date and follow his quest for personal happiness and creative success. Take It Like A Man saw George's struggle against drugs come to dominate his rapid rise to fame; this book will be an even more fascinating insight into what makes this superstar tick, tracing the momentous twists and turns of his personal and artistic life over the last decade-and-a-half to include his role as a world-class DJ spearheading the dance music revolution in clubs all over the world, his cutting-edge record label, and his role as the driving force behind and star of the theatrical sensation, Taboo, which recently opened on Broadway. This book will not just be a riveting companion volume to the bestselling Take It Like a Man, but a truly fascinating book in its own right.

PAPERBACK 2007

 

... foreworld by BOY GEORGE

2007

DINAH O'DOWD : "Cry Salty Tears" is the tale of a mother's survival and eventual triumph over almost unbelievable domestic hardship. Not only did Dinah O'Dowd face the harsh and unforgiving elements of her background - an upbringing in poverty-stricken 50s Dublin, teenage pregnancy and a lone journey to London, but she also fought like a tigress against the shadows cast across four decades of her life by the dark central figure of her existence, her psychotically abusive husband Gerry. Over the years, Dinah suffered repeated physical assault, prolonged mental torture and destructive ignorance, yet successfully raised a family of six and nurtured the unique personality of a world superstar, her son Boy George. Finally, she has reached equilibrium in the wake of the death of her husband, and is now ready to tell her story, striking a chord with women everywhere. Unflinchingly honest, heart-rending in the telling and packed with inconsolable tragedy and biting wit, "Cry Salty Tears" recounts the long and painful journey Dinah had to take. From the moment when she first set eyes on the charming, blue-eyed Gerry, to the first blow he struck when she was pregnant with their child, the suicide attempt that depression and all encompassing fear led her to and ultimately to her release from his psychotic clutches, "Cry Salty Tears" tells how, despite it all, this extraordinary woman could at last reclaim her life.

 

Boy George says; "I started More Protein to dominate the planet! No really... it was a way to get my friend Jeremiah Healy's track out 'Everything Starts With An E'. Jeremy was doing loads of music, mainly by sampling, and I kept telling him to make a record. Anyway, I heard this backing track that he had been working on and I helped write some melodic chorus parts and then we had the idea to put Caron (M.C. Kinky) on it chatting. We went in and recorded the track, I put up the money, and the rest is history!

To start with, we played it to a few different companies but because of the bad press the house scene was getting about ecstasy, we were rejected by everyone on moral grounds. They obviously couldn't get the joke, so we went to Virgin Records. At first, they agreed to put it out to the clubs to see if there was a good response from the DJ's, but apart from an ecstatic thumbs up from Manchester's Craham Park, there didn't seem to be much interest at all, so Virgin said they wouldn't go any further with it.

By this time, I started nurturing the idea of taking the label, beyond the one single, so I asked Jon Webster to release a few copies as a goodwill gesture, just to show some commitment to the label, and he did. Again, we didn't get much response to start with but after a few weeks, people really started to pick up on it. I remember Paul Oakenfold asking me about the track, so I brought a copy down to Spectrum at Heaven. When he first put it on, people were moving very uncomfortably to it, but with another few weeks, it was a rave essential and Caron was whizzing around to every rave pushing the record.

About a year or so before all this 'E' business, my brother Kevin, he played me a tape of a girl called Eve Gallagher to see if I would give her some vocal work. I told him at the time that I thought Eve was a lead vocalist, but I kept her in my mind. When I started to get More Protein going, I got back in touch with her and signed her to the label. By this time I had started to work with Mark Brydon from Sheffield's Fon Studios. I got turned on to Mark after he did a remix of 'After The Love'. the first Jesus Loves You single. It was love at first beat!

     

Mark and I had started with the idea of writing songs for other people but being the greedy git that I am, I wanted to sing them all myself. We did end up giving a track to Caron Wheeler, a song called 'Blue'.

I met Caron (M.C. Kinky) while I was recording my ill-fated second solo album "Tense Nervous Headache" (which is now one of those shelved masterpieces covered in dust)... I loved the way she chatted (rapped) and I got her to collaborate on an album track called "Kipsy", which is still a bit of a Boy's Own classic. I still intend to remake and remodel that tune someday.

I met her at Fred's in Carlisle Street. She asked me if I was still doing that "pop Reggae stuff" and told me she did a bit of rapping (jamaican style). As you can imagine, I was intrigued because when I started Culture Club, I used a white chatter called Amos (Captain Crucial), who was also mega brilliant. He appeared on tracks like "Love Twist" and "Murder Rap Trap".

I met Amos the day I went over to Mikey's Craig's house to audition him and talk about starting Culture Club. It was funny because I was in Mikey's bedroom and I'd brought my friend Claire Habbiba over because I thought she would be able to assess Mickey's bass playing. Claire was heavily into Reggae. Suddenly this young kid whizzes into the room on roller skates with long dreadlocks (real ones in fact!). Remember, these were the days of sew-on dreads so I was very impressed and he's talking like a Jamaican! I asked Mikey who he was and he said "Oh he is just me lady's kid brother", but I fully intended to pursue the issue even though Mickey wasn't keen and he ended up working with Culture Club later on.

Around that time, there was a brilliant club called the Language Lab. At the club, there used to be a sound system and various people would rap  live. Amos always had trouble getting a place on the mike but when he did, he tore the place up. I guess its the contradiction that attracts me... like Helen Terry, who I met outside Heaven. Someone said "Oh she's a brilliant singer", so I went, "Go on, sing"... and she let out this amazingly soulful scream. "Right, give me your number" I said... and that was it!

I just seem to trip over people, that's why I think its important to go out to the clubs as you never know who you might meet. More Protein has been a very incestuous affair up until now, with everyone being friends and all working with each other, but that has started to change. At the moment, we have three acts: E-Zee Possee, Eve Gallaguer, M.C. Kinky and we are on the verge of signing an Indian singer called Jagdeep Singh - don't be misled, he sounds more like Michael Jackson than Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, but even that would interest us.

We don't really have any rules, I like to think we adhere to that Summer of Love anything goes principle - ya know how it used to be in Ibiza when Dj's were more flexible you could hear house tracks mixed with the Woodentops or Orange Juice when dj's weren't so territorial. I think the problem is that dance music has saturated the market so much, that DJ's have become precious to protect their space. "I only play bleep"..." I only play hardcore rap. "I think it started with all the Indie bands getting into dance rhythms. A lot of the Black Soul DJs's hated things like Happy Mondays and there's been a division. Personally, I'm all for it. I think house music or dance has to keep reinventing itself, taking on a new slant, or it becomes boring. I'm not a fan of those Black Box type of tunes with people (dolly birds) miming to other people's vocals. I think it should be outlawed. Sorry!... I'm rambling.

Anyway we are also going to sign Captain Crucial (yes, Amos), which will be a sort of re-signing, because he was once signed to Virgin as Dark City, but the music he's making now is much harder, ore club orientated. As for the label is concerned, we are primarily a dance label, but there are no rules, I mean, "Bow Down Mister" for instance had great club support so you can never judge what's gonna go down - I think that's what keeps it exciting.

     

After Virgin Records decided not to put out "Tense Nervous Headache", I was a bit like a wounded witch. I was even contemplating giving up this music lark. Very very pissed off, I started working at Jeremy's putting some words to various tunes. I guess working with Jeremy gave me the bug again. Jeremy had been successful on Haysi Fantayzee and had got into productions. He'd always been into rap years before it became popular anyway. I wrote the words for Doctor Mouthquake's "Love On Love" and I helped on "Everything Srat's With An E". I guess being so successful in Culture Club made me take myself too seriously. With the Jesus Loves You stuff, its more fun to make. Being in a band is a nightmare! I really enjoy being in the studio whereas I used to hate it.

The text was written by Boy George in 1991 and was included on a exclusive 8 pages booklet that came with a 12" remix of "Generations of Love".

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CULTURE CLUB DVD

A KISS ACROSS THE OCEAN

 1984

1. I'll Tumble 4 Ya/2. Mister Man/3. It's A Miracle/4. Karma Chameleon/5. Black Money/6. Love Twist/7. Do Yo Really Want To Hurt Me/8. Miss Me Blind/9. Church Of The Poison Mind
/10. Victims/11. Time/12. White Boy/13. Melting Pot.

THE FIRST FOUR YEARS : THIS TIME

 1987
 1.Do you really want to hurt me / 2.time / 3.church of a poison mind / 4.I'll tumble 4 ya / 5.karma chameleon / 6.victims / 7.miss me blind / 8.it's a iracle / 9.black money / 10.love is love / 11.the war song / 12.move away.

 1991

JESUS LOVES YOU : Generations Of Love X-Rated paul OAKENFOLD Mix 6.40 / Bow Down mister 3.40/ Generations Of Love 3.55

BOY GEORGE Interactive CD-ROM (1998) : includes videos FUNTIME / IL ADORE / SAME THING IN REVERSE / LOVE IN LEAVING / WHEN WILL YOU LEARN + INTERVIEW / PHOTOS LIBRARY / INFORMATIONS

BOY GEORGE Video compilation (2000) USA : WHEN WILL YOU LEARN / LOVE IS LEAVING / FUNTIME / IL ADORE / SAME THING IN REVERSE.

CULTURE CLUB Video compilation (2000 ) USA : I JUST WANNA BE LOVE / COLD SHOULDER / YOUR KISSES ARE CHARITY /

Culture Club 20th Anniversary Concert live at the Royal Albert Hall

2003

Tracks:1. Intro/2. Do You Really want to Hurt Me?/3. Black Comedy/I'll Tumble For You/4. It's A Miracle/5. Everything I Own/6. Gimme A Sign/7. I Just Wanna Be Loved/8. Talk Amongst Yourselves/9. That's The Way/10. Black Money/11. Cold Shoulder/12. Move Away/13. Strange Voodoo/14. Church of The Poisoned Mind/15. Miss Me Blind/16. Victims/17. Starman/18. Karma Chameleon/19. Bow Down Mister.

Culture Club rose to fame in the 80s with a succession of pure pop hits, and were lead by the irrepressible figure of Boy George who embraced the video medium to its fullest extent. After a lengthy hiatus the band reformed, performing a series of sold-out shows that perfectly illustrated the timeless wonder of their songs. This concert from London includes many of their biggest hits, including "Karma Chameleon," "Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?" "It's A Miracle," and many others.

CULTURE CLUB : GREATEST HITS

2004

 

 'Do You Really Want To Hurt Me?', 'Time (Clock Of The Heart)', 'I'll Tumble For Ya', 'Church Of The Poison Mind', 'Karma Chameleon', 'Victims', 'It's A Miracle', 'Miss Me Blind', 'The War Song', 'The Medal Song', 'Mistake No. 3', 'Love Is Love', 'Move Away', 'God Thank You Woman', 'I Just Wanna Be Loved', 'Your Kisses Are Charity' and 'Cold Shoulder'.

Bonus Footage -1. A KISS ACROSS THE OCEAN concert at London's Hammersmith Odeon /2. Greatest Moments THEN & NOW Interview from 1998
DVD-ROM Features: Discography/Screensaver/Web Links/Wall Paper

CULTURE CLUB LIVE IN SYDNEY 1984

2006

Take control /mister man /I'll tumble 4 ya / it's a miracle / karma chameleon /black money /love twist / do you really want to hurt me / church of a poison mind / victims / time / miss me blind / white boy / that's the way / melting pot.

Culture Club was one of the most successful British acts of the '80s. With major hit singles on both sides of the Atlantic, they had album sales in the millions across the globe. In 1984, fresh from winning Best New Act at the Grammys and Best British Act at the Brits, and with their album COLOUR BY NUMBERS going platinum around the world and hitting No.1 in over 50 countries, they took their live show to Australia for the first time. This concert was shot in Sydney by Channel 9 TV in front of a wildly enthusiastic sellout audience, and perfectly captures the sheer excitement the group generated at their live shows.

BOY GEORGE