Boy George (born George Alan O'Dowd 14 June 1961) is an English singer-songwriter who was part of the English New Romantic movement which emerged in the early 1980s. He helped give androgyny an international stage with the success of Culture Club during the 1980s. His music is often classified as blue-eyed soul, which is influenced by rhythm and blues and reggae. His 1990s and 2000s-era solo music has glam influences such as David Bowie and Iggy Pop. He also founded and was lead singer of Jesus Loves You during the period 1989–1992. Being involved in many activities (among them songwriting, DJing, writing books, designing clothes and photography), he has released fewer music recordings in the last decade.

On 11 May 2009 Boy George was released from prison at HMP Edmunds Hill in Newmarket, Suffolk, four months into a fifteen-month sentence for the assault and false imprisonment of a male escort in his East London flat. He will wear an ankle monitor and be placed on a curfew for the balance of the sentence.

Boy George was born George Alan O'Dowd in Eltham, London on 14 June 1961, to Gerry and Dinah O'Dowd, who were originally from Thurles, County Tipperary in Ireland. He is one of six children. His siblings are Richard, Kevin, David, Gerald, and Siobhan.