BOY GEORGE

WHEN BOY GEORGE TURNED 60 IN JUNE, HE RELEASED 60 NEW SONGS TO MARK THE OCCASION AS HIS “CREATIVE DIWALI FESTIVAL”. MORE THAN EVER BEFORE, GEORGE’S NEW DECADE SEES ONE OF POP’S GREATEST PIONEERS AT EASE WITH BOTH HIS PAST AND FUTURE. WITH A NEW BIOPIC ON THE WAY, IS THE SINGER – WHISPER IT – COMFORTABLE? “IF I AM, IT’S A FIGHT,” HE TELLS US...

JOHN EARLS

Boy George has lived in the same house in North London ever since his first serious pop star royalties arrived. Unfortunately for both George, and a nosy Classic Pop reporter hoping for a glimpse of where the singer has found refuge for decades, for our Zoom call to celebrate the singer’s 60th birthday, Boy George is not at home.

“I started renovating my house a long time before the pandemic,” he explains. “If I’d known then that I’d have a year of not working, I might not have started getting it done up. The same as all housing programmes on TV, the work has gone over budget and, of course, it’s slowed down with the pandemic. But, in terms of suffering, I’m very privileged.

I don’t need more stuff in my life. Having more stuff doesn’t make you superior, although growing up in a two-up two-down house as a kid does mean that I want everything to be bigger.

What all that means is, you find me in an undisclosed location in Camden.”

We might not be at George’s home, but he’s still personalised the lounge view – as well as several candle diffusers, there are half-a-dozen of George’s small paintings behind him, cartoons that recall New York artist Keith Haring’s work in their bold lines and caricatures. A drawing of a stiletto is especially glorious. Alongside his art, George has been phenomenally busy making music in lockdown, releasing 60 new songs to celebrate his birthday on 14 June. Not bad for someone who says of his initial mood during lockdown: “I was reluctant to do anything. I was distracted and unable to concentrate.”

George’s focus was helped by going back into therapy and taking acting lessons. He’s quick to stress he’s not about to return to acting, having played outrageous club owner Leigh Bowery in his own musical Taboo in 2002. Instead, George is working with RADA acting coach Charlie Walker-Wise to hone his stagecraft. He’s told Classic Pop before how anxious he felt on stage throughout Culture Club’s rise; a worry that returned during the band’s tour for their comeback album Life. “I started feeling out of sorts when we played CarFest two years ago,” George recalls. “It made me want to work on self-empowerment and strengthening my stage presence. Acting lessons have really suited me. When I first worked with Charlie, I told him how much I like being in control. Charlie told me that was a disaster, the worst place I could be was on stage. He’s right. I’ve learned that what’s terrible is having a tension where I’m just….clenched.”

He laughs loud and long, something Boy George does a lot. It’s a delight to experience, as George laughs with his whole body.

Even in “civvies” – his term for not having the full Boy George slap on – George looks great: black T-shirt, neat beard, grey bandana, a general look of conspiratorial mischief. The laugh helps, as does the realisation that, at 60, Boy George is doing whatever the hell he wants: not least offering 60 new songs with no regular release pattern just because, well, how better to celebrate your birthday? “I don’t think about my age,” George insists.