Interview by Cliff Joannou…
I will remember this year most for…
My birthday party, which was bigger than I planned it to be, but I guess turning 50 is a proper milestone. I managed to invite a few friends I haven’t seen in more than 20 years which was great. Fat Tony threw it for me and I took over Fire in Vauxhall for the night. It was a wonderful night, but I was glad when it was over!
In terms of my career…
Things have just got better and better this year. I’ve been all over the globe DJing, and I released my album ‘Ordinary Alien’, which I’m very proud of. I’ve never really stopped working but since getting clean and sober in 2008, I have really started to look at life in a more positive way. I know just how bonkers it is that I can make a living out of doing what I love.
The worst thing about this year has been…
The violence in the middle east. Dictators like Gaddafi and Hassad killing their own people who just want freedom and equality. The protestors in those countries put their lives on the line for the things we take for granted. It certainly made the London riots seem futile, but it also made me realise how lucky I am to live in the UK.
It’s awful that I can’t think of anything the world should be proud of this year…
The world does seem to be in worse turmoil than ever. I guess the most moving thing is when people show their humanity in times of crisis, like in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami. Or the earthquake in New Zealand. I loved seeing all the people coming together to clean up after the London riots. It was very inspiring, so I guess we should be proud of the collective human spirit in times of crisis.
I will spend Christmas this year with the family…
I will be having a ‘raw’ Christmas, since I recently became a ‘raw food’ convert. It will drive my mum nuts because she has always had to put up with my quirky eating habits, especially at Christmas, but I love the ‘raw food’ way of eating. It really suits me and makes me feel great. I won’t inflict it on anyone else, but my plate will look very different!
2012 is going to be all about Culture Club!
We do our first live gig together in 13 years on 29th December in Dubai, and then head to Sydney in Australia for New Year’s Eve for a gig with the Pet Shop Boys and Jamiroquai. 2012 is our thirty year anniversary and I wanted to celebrate it. To be honest, I was thinking of just a meal together, but once I started to think about it, the idea of doing a new album and a big world tour seemed like a much better idea. We have already written a bunch of songs and recorded the bones of one track called ‘The Man Who Found God And Lost His Smile’. We have been rehearsing for the gig and it has been very enjoyable, and I’m seriously excited!
On New Year’s resolutions…
The Buddha says that ‘enlightenment is the end of suffering’ and it’s safe to say that most of the drama we have to deal with is self-inflicted. My new year’s resolution is to have as much fun as I can, invest in my life and my work and to take time for myself and my friends. I want to embody the light!
The biggest lesson life has taught me is…
That you cannot be gentle with the world until you are gentle with yourself, and more importantly that you ‘teach best that which you need to learn’!
The biggest challenges we face as a gay community in London are that…
Homophobia seems rife these days within lots of straight teenagers and attacks are on the rise, so I guess this presents a real challenge. I have always believed homophobia to be a projection of self-loathing, but these theories don’t help when your lying bleeding in the gutter or hooked up to tubes in hospital. We have to be mindful and careful but we can’t let bigots stop us living our lives. We also need to remember that in other countries gay men and women have it far worse. I don’t want to appear negative, but I also don’t want to live in a pink bubble and ignore what’s happening to gay women in South Africa. We need to remember the likes of Eudy Simelane, the lesbian who was raped and killed in South Africa and Jody Dobrowski who was murdered in London. We need to give them all a voice.
My message to gays around the world would be that…
There’s no better time than right now to be who you are!
In 2012 I’m looking forward to…
Making a wonderful album with Culture Club and doing some amazing live shows, and to fall in love. This year I started a new dance imprint, VG Records, with my friend Marc Vedo and we will be putting out lots of great new dance tracks in 2012, and collaborating with loads of interesting artists. Our latest tune ‘Don’t Take The Night’ featuring Drew Jaymson is about to be released and we have tons of gems in the pipeline. I’m putting together my new website boygeorge.com and re-launching my ‘B-Rude’ fashion label. I’m just loving being busy and creative and spreading tolerance around the globe. I use the term ‘chi chi man’ on my new single ‘Turn 2 Dust’ to reclaim a negative term. As I’ve said a million times, “I was queer yesterday, I’m queer today and I’m quite sure I’ll be queer tomorrow!”
• The stunning new photo book, ‘Boy George: King of Queens’ is available from Kitchen Sink Publishing (www.kitchensinkpublishing.com).
• The new single, ‘Turn 2 Dust’, is also out now.
