Description
Boy George is universally recognised as one of the music scenes most iconic artists and for the past 30 years has maintained a strong position at the forefront of this ever-changing, multi-faceted industry. With an ever-expanding and prolific musical output, his presence as a DJ and producer continues to attract high praise from the scene’s most revered tastemakers and media outlets.
From selling over 100 million singles and in excess of 50 million albums as a performer and songwriter with 80’s super group Culture Club, and as a solo artist, to maintaining his position as one of the world’s most successful and in-demand international DJs, George’s list of achievements is unparalleled. Away from his musical successes George has been a columnist for national newspaper the Daily Express, author of two bestselling autobiographies, been the co-producer, songwriter and on-stage star of the award-winning musical 'Taboo' on both New York’s Broadway and London's West End. Alongside all of this he runs his own fashion label B-Rude with outlets in New York, Los Angeles and London, as well as maintaining an elite membership to the worlds designer fashion hierarchy – DJing regularly at post catwalk shows such as Versace, Phillip Treacy and more recently Hugo Boss. We didn't even get to George making it into the Top 50 of the BBC's 100 Greatest Britons of all time, as well as being photographed by everyone from Richard Avedon to Lord Snowdon to Steve Meisel. All of which leading to his daring style, musical talent and unique persona attracting famous fans such as Andy Warhol and Keith Haring.
A DJ since the late 70’s, Boy George has had a long and successful career associated with house music stemming from early acid house and Chicago grooves in the 80’s, through to electro and tech house in the 90’s and 00’s. This lengthy association with the electronic music scene led to him playing at some of world’s most iconic venues such as the Manchester’s legendary The Haçienda, Shelleys in Stoke and Paul Oakenfold’s Spectrum at Heaven in London. And ever since George has maintained a constant touring schedule, notching up hundreds of thousands of air miles and taking in destinations from the snow capped mountains of Vancouver to the golden sun kissed sands of Bondi beach.
One of the Top 100 DJ's in the world for nearly 25 years, his travel commitments have seen him pack out events in over 75 countries around the world, from super-brands Godskitchen, Cream, Manumission and Spundae to global powerhouse venues like Space in Ibiza, Ministry of Sound in London, LA Exchange in Los Angeles, Zouk in Singapore, PachaNYC in New York, Guvernment in Toronto and Mansion in Miami. Additionally his name has been a prominent figure at many of the world’s leading festivals including Glastonbury, Homelands, Love Box, BigGayOut, V Festival and Ultra Music Festival South Korea. In recent times George has hosted the 2010 DJ Mag Top100 Awards ceremony at Ministry of Sound, performing alongside a bulging line up that included Deadmau5, Afrojack, Fedde Le Grand, andformerWorld #1 DJ Armin van Buuren. He has also appeared at the 2011 Brit Awards, Elle Style Awards and MTV Ibiza Party alongside Mark Ronson, featured as a guest speaker at the 2011 Amsterdam Dance Event, whilst headline the Official Formula 1 After parties in Singapore, Monaco, Dubai, Sao Paulo and New Delhi. George was also invited back for a second run as both host and guest DJ at the 2011 DJ Mag Top100 Awards ceremony at Ministry of Sound. Summer 2012 and 2013 saw George, alongside Marc Vedo, hold down a season long residency at the 5000 capacity super club Amnesia with La Troya.
A standout producer in his own right, George’s productions over the years have been released under imprints such as Ministry of Sound, Sony, GU Music, Virgin, Polystar, Universal, Subliminal, EMI and featured on compilations as varied as Global Underground and Bedrock. His impressive list of collaborations stands equally tall with George having worked with dance heavyweights such as Erick Morillo, Deep Dish, Afrika Bambaataa, Groove Armada and Faithless. While his records have been remixed by a multitude of artists that range from Tom Stephan and Holy Ghost to Hervé and Congorock.
Since early 2010 George has unveiled a bed of new studio releases that include ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘Sunshine into my life’ featuring Sharlene Hector of Basement Jaxx fame, ‘Brand New’ and ‘Turn 2 Dust’ As well as his own projects, George has spent much of the past few years collaborating with a number of other artists that include Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt (Miike Snow), Glide & Swerve and DJ Yoda. January 2011 also saw George release hislong awaited artist album ‘Ordinary Alien’, a dancefloor focused LP that consists of unreleased material from over the past 10 years which has been refreshed for modern audiences.
In 2013 George teamed up with Dharma Protocol, who are legendary producer and one part of The Orb Youth and Moto Blanco's Danny Harrison, and Culture Club bassist Mikey Craig for the single ‘Coming Home’. The track is reminiscent of George's first dance venture 'Jesus Loves You' with early 90s house flavouring and a pop sensibility and was released on George’s new label Very Me Records. The remix package featured cuts from Psychemagik, Juan Kidd, Kinky Roland, Marc Vedo and Maze & Masters. More recently hissingle ‘These Gods Will Fall’ was a joint studio record done with Federico Scavo, Marc Vedo and John Gibbons and was signed to the Italian imprint Hotfingers recordings.
Fans of George’s DJ sets can also download his monthly radio show Club Culture via iTunes. Available at the beginning of every month and syndicated on FM stations around the globe, George gives dance music fans a personal insight into the hottest club tracks that are rocking his DJ sets, as well as squeezing in the occasional anthem or two.
With a long list of guest slots on radio stations such as BBC Radio 1 & 2, Kiss FM, SiriusXM and Capital FM, George has also featured heavily on TV shows around the world with appearances on programmes like BBC 1 Jonathan Ross, Jools Holland, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, VH1, Top of the Pops and CD:TV
With an ever-expanding and prolific musical output, his presence in the music industry still remains an ever-present series of headline making stories with notable media outlets such as DJ Magazine, BBC Radio 1, Billboard, The Guardian, New York Times, SiriusXM and Mumbai Mirror all following his career with great zeal.
Top Boy George Songs of All Time