page_title: Boy George
section_title: Solo career: 2010–present
hierarchical_section_title: Boy George / Career / Solo career: 2010–present
caption_attribution_description: Boy George Here and Now Tour 2011
context_page_description: George Alan O'Dowd, known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, fashion designer, actor, photographer and record producer. He is the lead singer of the pop band Culture Club. At the height of the band's fame, during the 1980s, they recorded global hit songs such as "Karma Chameleon", "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" and "Time". George is known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance. He was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the late 1970s to the early 1980s.
  His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by rhythm and blues and reggae. He was the lead singer of Jesus Loves You between 1989 and 1992. His 1990s and 2000s-era solo music has glam influences, such as David Bowie and Iggy Pop. More recently, he has released fewer music recordings, splitting his time between songwriting, DJing, writing books, designing clothes and photography. In 2015, Boy George received an Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for Outstanding Services to British Music.
context_section_description: George's 2012 appearances included the Melbourne International Arts Festival in October, both as featured guest DJ and also performing with Antony Hegarty in the festival's presentations of Swanlights, the Museum of Modern Art's musical artwork commission, which had only ever been performed one night previously, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.
  June 2013 saw the release of a new song, "Coming Home". Mikey Craig, former bandmate in Culture Club, co-wrote the song with George. It was written during the song writing sessions for his album This Is What I Do released in October 2013. It has been remixed by the likes of Marc Vedo and Kinky Roland. The artist listed for the song is Dharma Protocol featuring Boy George. A video was released on YouTube shot and directed by Boy George, though he did not appear in the video. It was set on the Epping Ongar Railway and starred Danie Cox, lead singer and guitarist of London-based band the Featherz.
  On 19 August 2013, it was announced George would release his new studio album of original material, This Is What I Do, his first in 18 years. The album was written by George and longtime writing partners John Themis, Kevan Frost and Richie Stevens. Stevens produced the record at London's Cowshed Studios and it was released by Kobalt Label Services. The album also features writing collaborations with Youth, and a version of Yoko Ono's "Death of Samantha". It was mixed by Dave Bascombe and features a string of guest musicians including DJ Yoda, Kitty Durham, Ally McErlaine, MC Spee and Nizar Al Issa.
  In January 2016, George joined the fifth series of The Voice UK, replacing Tom Jones as a mentor. His final act, Cody Frost, finished third place overall. George left the series after just one season and later went on to join The Voice Australia as a coach for its sixth season. His final contestant, Hoseah Partsch, was the runner-up. He returned for the show's seventh season, in 2018 and its eighth season, in 2019 where his final contestant, Diana Rouvas won the competition. He will return for the voice Australia ninth season.
  In October 2016, Boy George performed David Bowie's “Starman” – nine months after his idol's death from liver cancer – along with the National Health Service choir, as part of Channel 4’s Stand Up to Cancer UK programme. In 2017, Boy George participated in the 8th season of The Celebrity Apprentice on NBC, in which he supported the charity Safe Kids Worldwide and came in second place. Also in 2017 he collaborated on Pitbull's album Climate Change.
  In August 2017, Boy George signed a recording deal with BMG, reuniting him with his songwriting catalogue, as BMG had acquired the Virgin Records songwriters in 2012.
  On 2 and 26 March 2020, through his YouTube channel, George respectively released (as videos) 2 new solo songs entitled "Clouds" and "Isolation" taken from his forthcoming album Geminis Don't Read The Manual due to be released later in the year. George is also due to release on 6 April 2020 on his own record label BGP (Boy George Presents) the Isolation Limited Edition 2-track CD Single (Catalogue No: BGP015) including the title track and a new "Spatial Awareness Meets The Boy Uptown Dub" mix of the track "Clouds". As he explains in a comment accompanying the "Isolation" video: "this has zero to do with what's going on now but perhaps everything in some way..."
caption: Boy George during the Here and Now Tour in 2011
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