80sTrivia
10-08-2005, 10:10 AM
Do You Really Want to Snort Me?
Gender-bending 80s drag Diva “Boy” George O’Dowd was arrested yesterday in New York City after authorities investigating a 911 call from the singer’s Manhattan apartment discovered a small amount of cocaine located next to a computer. O’Dowd, forty-six, has been no stranger to the drug scene. A recovering heroin addict, he had apparently beaten the demons that had practically derailed his once super-successful career. An icon of the Era of Excess, the pop star’s exotic looks, amazing singing voice and electrifying personality made him one of the most famous faces of the 80s, right along fellow superstars Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna. With his band Culture Club, the singer racked up an impressive list of hits, including the international Number Ones “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”, “The Crying Game” and “Karma Chameleon”, and Boy George mania swept the world. He succumbed to the lure of drugs, however, and he was arrested in the UK on heroin charges in 1986. Two close friends and companions of the singer died of heroin overdoses, one in the star’s London home. More recently, O’Dowd had been starring in a play, Taboo, a hit in the UK, but a dud on Broadway. It’s hard to imagine the Boy would fall back into the same destructive behaviors responsible for practically ending his once-stellar career… not to mention his very life. It looks like that karma chameleon’s colors have changed from red, gold and green, to black and white stripes…
Gender-bending 80s drag Diva “Boy” George O’Dowd was arrested yesterday in New York City after authorities investigating a 911 call from the singer’s Manhattan apartment discovered a small amount of cocaine located next to a computer. O’Dowd, forty-six, has been no stranger to the drug scene. A recovering heroin addict, he had apparently beaten the demons that had practically derailed his once super-successful career. An icon of the Era of Excess, the pop star’s exotic looks, amazing singing voice and electrifying personality made him one of the most famous faces of the 80s, right along fellow superstars Michael Jackson, Prince and Madonna. With his band Culture Club, the singer racked up an impressive list of hits, including the international Number Ones “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?”, “The Crying Game” and “Karma Chameleon”, and Boy George mania swept the world. He succumbed to the lure of drugs, however, and he was arrested in the UK on heroin charges in 1986. Two close friends and companions of the singer died of heroin overdoses, one in the star’s London home. More recently, O’Dowd had been starring in a play, Taboo, a hit in the UK, but a dud on Broadway. It’s hard to imagine the Boy would fall back into the same destructive behaviors responsible for practically ending his once-stellar career… not to mention his very life. It looks like that karma chameleon’s colors have changed from red, gold and green, to black and white stripes…