BOY GEORGE is set to be honoured for his outstanding contribution to music at The Irish Post Awards 2019 this week.
The Culture Club frontman will be among the awardees on the night with live coverage commencing at 9.30pm on TG4 this Thursday, November 14.
Born George Alan O'Dowd on June 14, 1961 to Gerry and Dinah O'Dowd, Boy George is the second of five children raised in a busy working-class Irish Catholic home.
While his mother hailed from Dublin his father, Gerry, was born in England and was of Irish descent.
A fan of the early New Romantic movement that swept the UK in the early 1980s, Boy George took inspiration from glam rock pioneers like Davie Bowie alongside performers like Roxy Music and Patti Smith to create his distinctive androgynous style.
It was an approach that soon caught the attention of music mogul Malcolm McLaren who initially had Boy George perform with the group Bow Wow Wow before he decided to strike out on his own with a new band.
Teaming up with Mikey Craig, Jon Moss and Roy Hay, the group first named themselves Sex Gang Children before deciding to play on their diverse backgrounds with the name Culture Club.
By 1982 Culture Club had hit the big time with their debut album Kissing to Be Clever and the smash hit lead single Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?.
The song was an international no.1 hit and was quickly followed by two more hit singles, with Culture Club becoming the first group since the Beatles to have three Top 10 hits in the US from a debut album.
The group cemented their status as a major musical force in the 1980s with their follow-up album Colour By Numbers, which included another mega-hit in the form of Karma Chameleon, which went on to become the best-selling single of 1984 in the UK and their first US number one.
The success of Culture Club catapulted Boy George into the limelight, with the singer becoming a style iconic and figure synonymous with the 1980s as a whole.
He made a memorable contribution to the Live Aid single Do They Know Its Christmas? and even popped up with a cameo role on The A-Team.
With Culture Club disbanding later in the decade, Boy George struck out on his own as a solo artist and DJ, exploring his passion for dance music and a variety of other genres. Culture Club reunited in the late 1990s for a new album and tour.
A beloved musician and celebrity who has made appearance on everything from The Voice UK to The Apprentice, Boy George has released two memoirs to date, including 2005’s Straight, which was a Sunday Times best-seller for six weeks.
In 2015 he was honoured for his talent as a songwriter and musician with one of the coveted Ivor Novello Awards.
Culture Club went on to release another album together in 2018 with Life.
Tonight, his legend and legacy are celebrated by the Irish diaspora.
The Irish Post Awards 2019 is sponsored by sponsored by DRS and Invennt.
Tune into The Irish Post Awards 2019 this Thursday, November 14 at 9.30pm LIVE on TG4!
