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Vanessa Feltz
Vanessa Feltz at the Stonewall Awards 2011
Born	Vanessa Jane Feltz (1962-02-21) 21 February 1962 (age 50) Islington, North London, England
Nationality	British
Education	Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls Trinity College, Cambridge
Occupation	Broadcaster, Journalist
Years active	1980s–present
Notable credit(s)	Presenting: The Big Breakfast (Channel 4) Vanessa (ITV) Vanessa's Real Lives (ITV) The Vanessa Show (BBC One 1998-9, Channel 5 2011) Being a contestant on Celebrity Big Brother (2001) Ultimate Big Brother (2010) (Channel 4) Columnist The Daily Express
Spouse	Michael Kurer (m. 1983–2000) «start: (1983)–end+1: (2001)»"Marriage: Michael Kurer to Vanessa Feltz" Location: (linkback:http://en-wiki.pop.wn.com/index.php/Vanessa_Feltz) (divorced)[1]
Partner	Ben Ofoedu (2006–present)
Children	Allegra (born 1986) Saskia (born 1989)

Vanessa Jane Feltz (born 21 February 1962) is an English television personality, broadcaster and journalist. She currently presents an early morning radio show on BBC Radio 2, a mid morning phone-in show on BBC London 94.9. In 2011, she started hosting The Vanessa Show on Channel 5. The first series ended on June 24. The show will return in September.

Early life[link]

Vanessa Feltz was born in Islington, London, and grew up in Pine Grove, Totteridge. On her radio show she frequently refers to Totteridge as "the Beverly Hills of North London", and her middle-class Jewish background as like "growing up in Fiddler on the Roof [with her] as Topol".

Her father Norman was in the lingerie business.^[1] Her mother Valerie (née Ohrenstein) was a housewife who died of cancer at the age of 57 in 1995.^[2] She has one sister, three years younger.

Feltz was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, an independent school in Elstree, Hertfordshire. She then went on to study English at Trinity College, Cambridge, England.

Career[link]

1980s and 90s[link]

After graduating from Cambridge University^{[citation needed]} with a First Class Honours degree,^{[citation needed]} Feltz moved from temping work to writing for The Jewish Chronicle then the Daily Mirror.^{[citation needed]} She often specialised in sex advice, writing for the magazine Men Only, and her sex tips for girls book called What Are These Strawberries Doing on My Nipples? I Need Them For The Fruit Salad!^[3] She also presented a Jewish radio show on BBC GLR (now BBC London 94.9).^{[citation needed]} She replaced Paula Yates on Channel 4 morning TV show The Big Breakfast, presenting a regular item where she interviewed celebrities whilst lying on a bed. She also presented a show called Value for Money.^{[citation needed]}

She presented the ITV daytime television chat show Vanessa, made by independent TV company Anglia Television. She moved to the BBC to host a similar show, The Vanessa Show, in 1998 in a reported £2.7 million deal.^[4] ITV replaced her show with Trisha.

In 1999 The Vanessa Show show suffered from bad publicity as some guests were alleged to have been actors. Despite having had no involvement in the booking of guests, she was seen to be at fault and the show was cancelled soon after.^[5]

2000s[link]

Vanessa Feltz was a contestant on the first British version of Celebrity Big Brother in 2001. She has appeared on its spin-off shows Big Brother's Big Mouth and Big Brother's Little Brother on numerous occasions.

In May 2003 she was voted 93rd^[1] on the list of worst Britons in Channel 4's poll of the 100 Worst Britons.

She made an appearance in a sketch in the first episode of the second series of BBC comedy sketch show Little Britain, playing a spokeswoman for fictional slimming club Fat Fighters. In 2004, she appeared in the second series of reality TV show Celebrity Fit Club in a bid to lose weight.^{[citation needed]}

Feltz has been a regular guest on The Wright Stuff^{[citation needed]} and presented two series of Cosmetic Surgery Live, both screened on Channel Five.^{[citation needed]}

From late 2002 she has presented phone-in shows on BBC London 94.9. After presenting a Saturday afternoon phone-in show, she moved to a weekday afternoon slot until late 2005. She then replaced Jon Gaunt on the morning show, 9am to noon. The show is a phone-in on current topics, with occasional studio guests. She also presented a Saturday morning show until January 2011 with more emphasis on interviews, and some music. She also writes a weekly column on her views on topical subjects, published in the Tuesday Daily Express newspaper and is the agony aunt at Reveal Magazine.^{[citation needed]}

In December 2006 she made a comeback to ITV as the host of talk show Vanessa's Real Lives,^[1] and she played herself in an episode of BBC drama series Hotel Babylon.^{[citation needed]}

Feltz and Ben Ofoedu have taken part in a number of television programmes as a couple: in April 2007 they participated in an episode of Channel 4's Celebrity Wife Swap, in which she moved in with magician Paul Daniels for one week, while his wife Debbie McGee moved in with Ofoedu.^{[citation needed]} On 22 September 2007 Feltz and Ofoedu won £150,000 for a cancer charity on the celebrity version of ITV's Who Wants To Be a Millionaire.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008 Feltz won £10,000 for Cancer Care as a victorious member of Anton Du Beke's team on BBC One gameshow Hole in the Wall.^{[citation needed]}

On 11 May 2009 Feltz was named Speech Radio Personality of the Year at the Sony Radio Academy Awards.^{[citation needed]}

Vanessa has also appeared on three different episode of The Weakest Link. On two episodes, she made it to the final round but lost to Sue Perkins on one episode and to Tony Slattery on the other. The third episode she appeared on was the Special 1,000 Celebratory episode to celebrate 1,000 episodes of Weakest Link made, where she was the 6th one voted off.

2010[link]

In 2010, Feltz and Ofoedu won their episode of the Virgin 1 show A Restaurant in our Living Room, catering a dinner at their home for 25 people.

Feltz returned to the Big Brother house on 3 September 2010 during Ultimate Big Brother,^[6] the last series to be broadcast on Channel 4.^[7] She was evicted from the house on 8 September, two days before the final.

2011[link]

Feltz took on a greater workload of radio and TV presenting in January. She took over the BBC Radio 2 Early Breakfast Show in January starting at 05:00 until 06:30 each weekday in the slot formerly occupied by Sarah Kennedy. Writing of her Radio 2 debut, Daily Telegraph radio critic, Gillian Reynolds described Feltz's voice as "like lemon tea with honey."^[8] She also continued her morning phone-in programme on BBC London 94.9 at 09:00 until 12:00 each weekday. On 10 January, Feltz launched TV chat show, The Vanessa Show on Channel 5 produced by Princess Productions broadcast Monday-Friday from 11:00 to 11:45. The programme suffered from poor ratings with a rapid drop in its audience from 170,000 for the debut show to only 40,000 just a few days later.^[9][10]

On 7 March, Channel 5 moved The Vanessa Show to an afternoon slot at 14:15 following disappointing ratings for the morning slot. The move allowed Feltz to record live editions of her TV show after her morning radio commitments.^[11] In March 2011, the Daily Mail reported that The Vanessa Show could be facing the axe at the end of its run in June due to mixed ratings since the change in scheduling.^[12] Ratings eventually improved and a second series of the show will commence in September. The guardian.co.uk's "Media Monkey" blog dubbed Feltz "officially the hardest working woman in broadcasting" due to her weekday broadcasting commitments.^[13]

Personal life[link]

As a child of 10, she had a holiday romance with DJ Pete Tong, himself only 12 years old, during a family holiday in Majorca.^[14] She married Michael Kurer, a surgeon, in 1983. They have two daughters but the couple divorced in 2000.^[15]

In 2006 Feltz met Anglo-Nigerian singer Ben Ofoedu. They became engaged in December 2006,^[16] and originally planned to marry the following year.^[16] Ofoedu later said that the couple would marry in late 2011,^[17] but no wedding took place.

She lives in St John's Wood, London, in a house previously occupied by Reverend John Hugh Smyth-Piggott, and by Charles Saatchi, and which was featured in Sir John Betjeman's 1973 film Metro-land.^[18]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Vanessa Feltz at the Internet Movie Database
• Vanessa Feltz at BBC Programmes (BBC London 94.9)
• Vanessa Feltz at BBC Programmes (BBC Radio 2)
• The Vanessa Show at channel5.com

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (April 2008)

Boy George
Boy George in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2007
Background information
Birth name	George Alan O'Dowd
Born	(1961-06-14) 14 June 1961 (age 51) Bexley, Kent, England
Genres	New Wave, soul, pop, soft rock, disco
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, Disc Jockey (DJ), Fashion Designer, Performer, Photographer, Producer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1978–present
Labels	Virgin Records, Epic Records, Plan A Records
Associated acts	Culture Club, Jesus Loves You, Mark Ronson, Bow Wow Wow
Website	http://www.boygeorgeuk.com/

Boy George (born George Alan O'Dowd on 14 June 1961) is an English singer-songwriter, who was part of the English New Romanticism movement which emerged in the early 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.

Career[link]

Early life and career[link]

Boy George was born George Alan O'Dowd at Barnehurst Hospital in Bexley, Kent on 14 June 1961, to Jeremiah and Dinah O'Dowd (née Glynn), who were originally from Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland. He attended Eltham Green School in Eltham.^[1] He is one of six children. His siblings are Richard, Kevin, David, Gerald, and Siobhan.

He was a follower of the New Romantic movement which was popular in Britain in the early 1980s. George frequently lived at the infamous Warren Street Squat in Central London. George and his friend Marilyn were regulars at The Blitz,^[2] a trendy London nightclub run by Steve Strange of the group Visage.^[1] George and Marilyn also worked at the nightclub as cloakroom attendants.^{[citation needed]}

Culture Club[link]

Boy George's androgynous style of dressing caught the attention of music executive Malcolm McLaren (previously the manager of the Sex Pistols), who arranged for George to perform with the group Bow Wow Wow, featuring Annabella Lwin. Boy George's (then going by the name "Lieutenant Lush") tenure with Bow Wow Wow was a disaster and he was booed off the stage at a live performance and subsequently dropped from the group. He then started his own group with bassist Mikey Craig. Next came Jon Moss (who had drumming stints with The Damned and Adam and the Ants), and then Roy Hay. The group called themselves In Praise of Lemmings, but the name was later abandoned, as was their next name, Sex Gang Children. Realizing they had a transvestite Irish singer (George), a black-Briton (Craig), a Jewish drummer (Moss), and an Anglo-Saxon Englishman (Hay), they settled on the name Culture Club, referring to the various ethnic backgrounds of the members.

The band recorded demos that were paid for by EMI Records but the label declined to sign them. Virgin Records, however, expressed interest in signing the group in the UK for European releases, while Epic Records handled the US and North American distribution. They recorded their debut album Kissing to Be Clever (UK#5, US#14,) and it was released in 1982. The single "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?", became an international hit, reaching #1 in a dozen countries around the world, plus top ten in several more countries (US #2). This was followed by the Top 5 hit "Time (Clock of the Heart)" in the US and UK, and "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" which reached US #9. This gave Culture Club the distinction of being the first group since the Beatles to have three Top 10 hits in the US from a debut album.

Their next album, Colour By Numbers was an enormous success, topping the UK charts and hit #2 in the US. The single "Church of the Poison Mind" became a Top 10 hit, and "Karma Chameleon" became an international hit, peaking at #1 in sixteen countries, and the top ten in additional countries. It hit #1 in the US where it stayed for three weeks. It was the best-selling single of the year in the United Kingdom, where it spent six weeks at #1. "Miss Me Blind" and "It's a Miracle" were Top 5 and Top 20 hits respectively in the US. "Victims" was another Top 5 UK hit.

George and Roy Hay co-wrote the group's contributions to the movie soundtrack Electric Dreams with the songs "Love is Love" and "The Dream". The P. P. Arnold song "Electric Dreams" was written by George and Phil Pickett.

The band's third album Waking Up with the House on Fire (UK#2, US#26) featured the hit single "The War Song" and a modest hit in "Mistake No. 3". George then provided a lead vocal role on the Band Aid international hit single "Do They Know It's Christmas." He was not featured on the cover sleeve of the single. Proceeds from the single were donated to feed famine victims in Africa, particularly Ethiopia. In 1986, George guest-starred on an episode of the television action-drama series The A-Team, in which he played himself. The episode was entitled "Cowboy George".

George had been occasionally using drugs for several years, and by 1985, he had developed a heroin addiction. His relationship with Jon Moss had also completely soured, and the two could hardly be around each other at that point. The group released its fourth album, From Luxury To Heartache (UK#10, US#32), and it featured one hit single, "Move Away". However, word shortly began circulating in tabloids that George was addicted to drugs. He was arrested in Britain for possession of cannabis. Shortly thereafter, keyboardist Michael Rudetsky, who co-wrote the song "Sexuality" on Culture Club's From Luxury to Heartache album, was found dead of a heroin overdose in George's London home. George had expressed interest in working with the keyboardist on a solo album George was planning. Rudetsky's parents filed a wrongful death suit in Britain against George, seeking financial damages for their son's death. With George's drug addiction, the underwhelming performance of their latest album, a soured romance between band members shrouded in secrecy, and a wrongful death lawsuit, the group ultimately disbanded. George would win the court case against the Rudetskys, and would not be required to pay any monetary damages. He would agree to seek treatment for his addiction. Following next would be the death of his friend Mark Vaultier, who overdosed on methadone and Valium at a party. George had been arrested en-route to the party on suspicion of carrying drugs.

Solo career: late 1980s[link]

Boy George, now a solo artist and now signed to Virgin Records in the US and internationally, entered treatment for his addiction. He was prescribed narcotics to treat his heroin addiction. In kicking his heroin addiction, he then became addicted to those prescription narcotics that were used during his treatment. In 1987, he released his first solo album, Sold, and enjoyed its success in Europe. It spawned the UK singles "Everything I Own" (UK #1), "Keep Me In Mind" (UK #29), "To be Reborn" (UK #13), and the title song, "Sold" (UK #24). The singles were hits in various other European countries as well. The album's success, however, was not duplicated in the US. This may be due in part to the fact that George was prohibited by US authorities from travelling to America for several years because of his British drug charges. He did score his first solo Top 40 hit with the single "Live My Life" (US #40) from the Hiding Out soundtrack. Tense Nervous Headache (1988), and Boyfriend (1989) would be his next two internationally released albums; however, these two albums would not be distributed in the US. Instead, Virgin Records selected several songs from each of these two albums for a North American-only release called High Hat (1989). This album scored a US Top 5 R&B hit in "Don't Take My Mind On A Trip", produced by Teddy Riley. George's following single in the UK was a protest song against the UK Conservative Party's legal restriction that anyone working for a local authority be barred from "promoting" homosexuality. The song, 'No Clause 28 (Emilio Pasquez Space Face Full Remix)' was an underground acid house hit.

In 1989, George formed his own record label, More Protein, and began recording under the name Jesus Loves You, (writing under the pseudonym Angela Dust, a word play off angel dust). He released several underground hits; "After The Love", "Generations Of Love", and "Bow Down Mister", the latter giving him a UK Top 30 hit in 1991. Inspired by his involvement in the Hare Krishna movement (ISKCON),^[3] George had written the song during a trip to India. Another single, "One On One", featured a remix by Massive Attack.

	Bow Down Mister (A Small Portion 2 B Polite Mix) excerpt noicon An excerpt from Bow Down Mister (A Small Portion 2 B Polite Mix)
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Solo career: 1990s[link]

From March 1990 to April 1991, George presented a weekly chat and music show on the Power Station satellite channel called Blue Radio. In 1992, George had a major US and UK hit with the song "The Crying Game", from the movie soundtrack of the same name. The movie became a surprise hit and the single reached the #11 in the US. Although he had had several solo hits in Europe, this would be Boy George's biggest US hit since Culture Club's "Move Away" reached the US Top 20.

He has also enjoyed a second career as a notable music DJ. His first gig as a DJ was at Phillip Sallon's new nightclub, Planet's, located in Pickadilly. In the 1990s he came to the attention of legendary rave/house promoters Fantazia who asked him to mix 1 of the discs on the 2 volume in their new compilation series Fantazia The House Collection 2. This compilation was a success in the UK, going gold. The album was also sold to Sony for European-wide release. London nightclub Ministry of Sound hired him to compile one of their first CDs, and it promptly sold 100,000 copies. He then completed some compilations for them, five of them being the Annual I to V.

George made many recordings between 1990 and 1994, but none were issued. In 1992 a pop and world music-oriented album was scheduled for release by a group George was fronting called Jesus Loves You. The album, to be named "Popularity Breeds Contempt", was never released. An EP entitled "Sweet Toxic Love" released in 1990 reached #65 on the UK Chart. The phrase "popularity breeds contempt" was used as the opening line on the beginning of the 1993 greatest hits album At Worst: The Best of Boy George and Culture Club. In 1993, George was featured on the P.M. Dawn single "More Than Likely" which became a moderate US and UK hit.

George showed an interest in releasing a rock album. He released the rock-driven album Cheapness and Beauty in 1995, but the album was not successful, although the single "Same Thing in Reverse" became a minor US hit. The Unrecoupable One Man Bandit Volume One was the next album release, first being sold on the internet only. It was then distributed by independent labels. Another project from the time was a new group that would include Boy George and two long-time musicians, John Themis and Ritchie Stevens. Initially named "Shallow", it was later re-named "Dubversive". The project took place in 1997 and was to include trip-hop, dub and reggae. The project was not picked up by any major labels but some of the songs were later included on the 2002 Culture Club Box Set, and some others appeared on eBay in 2004.

On some other labels, several dance-oriented songs were released in various countries. For example, "Love is Leaving" went Top 3 in Italy and "When Will You Learn" reached the top positions in the Swiss charts. "When Will You Learn" was also nominated for the Best Dance Recording, at the Grammy Awards. In 1999, Boy George collaborated on songs with dance-oriented acts. For example, "Why Go", a slow-paced track with Faithless, from their Sunday 8 PM LP, was later released in a remixed form in some European countries and Australia. A track was done with Groove Armada, named "Innocence Is Lost", but was only released on a promo 12" in 1999.

Solo career: 2000s[link]

Boy George remained a figure in the public eye, starring in the London musical Taboo, based on his life (George did not play himself, opting instead to take on the persona of Australian-born performance artist Leigh Bowery). Boy George was nominated for a Tony Award for the "Best Musical Score" and Taboo was a great success in London's West End, though a heavily-altered Rosie O'Donnell-produced run in New York City was short-lived (100 performances, versus the two-year run in London).

In 2002, Boy George released U Can Never B2 Straight, an "unplugged" collection of rare and lesser known acoustic works. It contained unreleased tracks from previous years as well as some ballads from Cheapness And Beauty and the Culture Club album Don't Mind if I Do. It received the best reviews of Boy George's solo career, many of them highlighting his strong song writing abilities. The record was only released in the UK and Japan, and received almost no promotion from Virgin Records, only rising to #147 on the UK album charts.

From 2002 to 2004, under the pseudonym "The Twin", Boy George experimented in electronica, releasing limited edition 7" singles and promo records. Performed in small venues such as the Nag Nag Club, the material was considered innovative, but not commercially marketable.^{[citation needed]} This period, however, was a very creative and liberating one for George; for "The Twin", could sing whatever he wanted. The limited releases included four 500 to 520 copies 7", one limited 12" (for Sanitized) and a promo CD, 1000 copies 13-track album Yum Yum. Two years later, it was released via digital outlets like iTunes. An album recorded in the Spring of 2003 was also shelved. A collaboration with electronic combo T-Total, the album was a collection of covers of songs by Jefferson Airplane, David Bowie, John Lennon, Dusty Springfield, T. Rex, and Eurythmics among others. It is suggested that Boy George's numerous abandoned projects are due to his broad interest and need to explore other creative mediums such as photography, writing, and fashion.

During 2003, he presented a weekly show on London radio station LBC 97.3 for six months. He wrote the foreword for a feng shui book called Practical Feng Shui by Simon G. Brown (published in 1998). He also appeared as a guest on the British comedy-talk show The Kumars at No. 42. In March 2005 he was the guest host for an episode of The Friday Night Project, for Channel 4 television.

On his "More Protein" website, George did announce another unreleased album, named Straight, for mid-2005. It was to include tracks such as "Panic" and "Talking Love". Four tracks were released as a sampler with the book of the same name in 2005. A reggaeton oriented EP was also planned for August 2006 but was never released. Some recent tracks were shared by George himself in late 2006 and early 2007 on his YouTube account, his three Myspace pages and sometimes on his official site. In January 2007, Boy George released "Time Machine" on Plan A Records. "Time Machine" was co-written by double Ivor Novello Award-winning songwriter Amanda Ghost who also co-wrote "You're Beautiful" with James Blunt.^[4]

On 20 October 2006, it was announced that he would be writing some tracks for Kylie Minogue (News.com.au story) with Amanda Ghost; however, the songs were not included on her 2007 album. It was not the first time that George wrote songs for other artists; in the past, he shared songwriting credits with the Beach Boys, Caron Wheeler, Charlotte Church, Mica Paris and many others. He also wrote many of the tracks for the artists on his own dance oriented music label, More Protein, such as Eve Gallagher, Zee Asha, Lippy Lou, and E-Zee Posse.

Boy George has run his own fashion line for some years, called "B-Rude". B-Rude has shown at fashion shows in London, New York and Moscow. On 24 December 2006, George appeared on a one-off BBC TV programme Duet Impossible in which he performed with himself from the 1980s and joked about his street cleaning.

Later in 2007, two electronica/dance collaborations were released in limited editions. In the spring, the track "You're Not The One" was remixed from an old demo and released with the dance combo "Loverush UK" reaching the top 20 in the UK dance chart. It was a digital-only release, available in many digital retailers like iTunes. Also on iTunes, a new collaboration with trip-hop/electro band Dark Globe, called "Atoms", was released on 19 November. The single contains eight versions, from the slow original to electro remixes by Ariya and Henrik Schwarz. Also in late 2007, an EP titled "Disco Abomination" appeared on the internet, available for download on several underground outlets. It included new remixes of tracks like "Turn 2 Dust", "Love Your Brother", and covers of "Don't Wanna See Myself" and "Go Your Own Way". Most of the versions are remixes done by German producer Kinky Roland.

On 25 February 2007, George was special guest DJ at LGBT nightspot, The Court Hotel in Perth, Western Australia. On 4 March 2007, George performed as a DJ at the Hordern Pavilion in Sydney for the Mardi Gras Festival. On 11 May 2007, George performed as a DJ at the launch party for the Palazzo Versace in Dubai, UAE. George cancelled his planned 2007 October tour via an announcement on his official website. In 2007: George toured as a DJ, visiting Florence, Stuttgart, Rotterdam, Toulouse, Auckland, Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, Dubai, Skopje, Niagara Falls, Montreal, Toronto, Cagliari, Blackpool, Coventry, Munich, Naples, Mantova, Lyon, Follonica, Paris, Kristiansand, Noli, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Amsterdam, Beirut, Budapest, Skanderborg, Baia, London, Mykonos, Geneva, Lausanne, Stockholm, Manchester, Brussels, Bologna, Hong Kong, Letterkenny, Aix-en-Provence, Reims, Moscow and Genova.

Upon his return from prison Boy George resumed his successful DJ career embarking on a worldwide tour of clubs. George has played a special residency at the Shaw Theatre in London (in which all shows were sold out) from 23 January 2008, followed by a full UK tour.^[5] In April 2008, The Biography Channel featured a documentary on the life of Boy George. The American tour which was planned for July/August 2008 had to be cancelled because he had been denied a United States visa due to a London court case scheduled for November 2008. On 2 July, 6 concert dates in South America were announced. Boy George participated in RETROFEST held in Scotland in August 2008,^[6] and a 30-date UK tour took place in October/November 2008.

In 2009 he signed a new record deal subsequently releasing the album Ordinary Alien – The Kinky Roland Files in the autumn of 2010. The album consisted of previously recorded tracks mixed by longtime dance partner Kinky Roland. He took part in Night of the Proms, which is a series of concerts held yearly in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and Spain. Regularly there are also shows in France, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Scandinavian countries. The concerts consist of a combination of pop music and popular classical music (often combined) and various well-known musicians and groups usually participate.

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 was tagged and placed on a curfew for the remainder of the sentence.^[7]

In December 2009, Boy George had a successful run of concerts at the Leicester Square Theatre in London's West End.

Solo career: 2010s[link]

26 November 2010 saw the release of British DJ and musician Mark Ronson’s third single from his album Record Collection. "Somebody to Love Me" featured Boy George and was met with critical acclaim from critics and also meant a return to BBC Radio 1’s play list after being banned for many years.^{[citation needed]}

Reunions[link]

In July 1998, a reunited Culture Club performed three dates in Monte Carlo and then joined the Human League and Howard Jones in a "Big Rewind" tour of the US. The following month, the band appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman and made an appearance in Britain, their first in 14 years. Later that year, the band had a Top 5 hit in the UK with "I Just Wanna Be Loved" and later a top 30 hit with "Your Kisses are Charity". In 2006, the band decided to again reunite and tour; however, George declined to join them for this tour. As a result, two members of Culture Club replaced George with vocalist Sam Butcher. George has expressed his displeasure at the turn of events.^[8] Finally, after one showcase and one live show, that project was shelved.

Boy George announced in 27 January 2011 to the BBC that there will be a 30th anniversary Culture Club reunion tour sometime later in the year and that they would be releasing a new album in 2012.^[9] Although the 2011 tour never took place, Culture Club did play two live concerts, in Dubai and Sydney, the latter being a new year's eve concert. In interviews given shortly before the concerts, the group confirmed that they were indeed recording new material.

Legal problems[link]

By the late 1980s, George had been struggling with his severe heroin addiction for many years.^[10] He attempted to perform concerts while under its influence. Addictions to other drugs soon followed. Determined to save George's life, his younger brother David made an appearance on UK national television and discussed George's drug habit, which George had been publicly denying at that time. In 1986, Boy George was arrested for heroin possession as part of 'Operation Culture.'.^[11]

In 1995, Kirk Brandon sued George for libel claiming that George mentioned a love affair between them in George's autobiography, Take It Like a Man. George won the court case and Brandon was ordered to pay £200,000 to Virgin Records, EMI Virgin Music and the book publisher in costs. Brandon declared himself bankrupt, which resulted in Boy George paying over £60,000 in legal fees.^[12]

On 7 October 2005, George was arrested in Manhattan on suspicion of cocaine possession and falsely reporting a burglary. George denied that the drug was his.^[13] In court on 1 February 2006, the cocaine possession charge was dropped and George pleaded guilty to falsely reporting a burglary. He was sentenced to five days of community service, fined US$1,000 and ordered to attend a drug rehabilitation program.^[14]

On 17 June 2006, a Manhattan judge issued a warrant for the arrest of Boy George after he failed to appear in court for a hearing on why George wanted to change his sentence for the false burglary report. George's attorney informed the court that he had advised George not to appear at that hearing.^[15]

On 14 August 2006, George reported to the New York Department of Sanitation for his court-ordered community service. As a result of the swarming media coverage, he was allowed to finish his community service inside the Sanitation Department grounds.^[16]

In a February 2007 interview, the performer explained: “People have this idea of Boy George now, particularly the media: that I’m tragic, fucked up. I mean, I’m all those things, but I’m also lots of other things. Yes, I’ve had my dark periods, but that isn’t all I am.”^[17]

On 5 December 2008, George was convicted in Snaresbrook Crown Court, London, of the assault and false imprisonment of Audun Carlsen.^[18] On 16 January 2009, he was sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment for these offences.^[19] George stated that Carlsen was viewing his private information without George's consent. Initially sent to HMP Pentonville in London, George was later transferred to HMP Edmunds Hill in Newmarket, Suffolk (a category C prison).^[20]

On 11 May 2009, George was released after serving four months of his 15 month custodial sentence at HMP Edmunds Hill. He was released on home detention curfew and was required to wear an ankle monitor for 90 days.^[21]

On 23 December 2009, George had his request to appear on the final series of Celebrity Big Brother (to be broadcast on Channel 4) turned down by the Probation Service. Richard Clayton QC, representing the Probation Service, said George's participation would pose "a high level of risk" to the service's reputation. Clayton argued that if he used the show to promote his status as a celebrity and earn "a lucrative sum of money" it could undermine public confidence in the criminal justice system.^[22]

In January 2011, George agreed to return to the Church of Cyprus an 18th-century icon of Christ that he had bought without knowing its origin. The icon, which had adorned his home for 26 years, had been looted from the church of St Charalampus from the village of New Chorio, near Kythrea. George had originally purchased the icon from a London art dealer eleven years after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. He returned the icon at the Saints Anargyroi Church, Highgate, north London.^[23][24]

Memoirs[link]

Harper Collins published his first autobiography, Take It Like a Man, in 1995, written with Spencer Bright. The book was released to coincide with the timing of George's solo album, Cheapness and Beauty, actually released at the same time, dealing with the same themes, and also including a number of photographs as in the book. Take It Like a Man was a bestseller in the UK.

In 2005, Century published Straight, his second autobiographical book, this time written with author Paul Gorman. It stayed in The Sunday Times bestseller list for six weeks. This latter autobiography starts off there where the former had stopped, though the two works are different in style, due to their different co-authors, and all of the chapters have a title in the 2005 book, while the 1995 autobiography only featured numbered sections.

Gorman has also ghost-written Cry Salty Tears, the memoirs of George's mother Dinah O'Dowd, which was published by Arrow Books, in January 2007. The same year also saw the publication of Straight in paperback. It was originally supposed to be updated, but Boy George declined to do so since he felt the book was too bitter and negative about other people, and he regretted writing it.^{[citation needed]}

Sexual orientation[link]

When Boy George was with Culture Club, much was made of his androgynous appearance, and there was speculation about his sexuality. When asked in interviews, George gave various answers. He gave a famous, oft-quoted response to an interviewer that he preferred "a nice cup of tea" to sex.^[25]

In Take It Like a Man, George told his side of his secret relationships with punk rock singer Kirk Brandon and Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. He stated many of the songs he wrote for Culture Club were directed at Moss. However, one of Culture Club's biggest hits "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" was about Brandon. Moss acknowledged that he had a sexual and romantic relationship with George, but Brandon denies he ever had a relationship with George.

In 2006, in an episodic documentary directed by Simon George titled The Madness of Boy George, George declared on camera he was "militantly gay".^[26] In a 2008 documentary Living with Boy George, he talks about his first realisation he was gay, and when he first told his parents. He discloses that he understands why men fall in love with one another as well as with women.^[27]

References in popular culture[link]

In 1984, during the height of the popularity of Culture Club, country singers Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley recorded a parody called "Where's the Dress". In the song, they see Boy George on television and decide they can be more successful if they dressed like him.^{[citation needed]} The intro to the song is identical to "Karma Chameleon" before it goes into a traditional country feel, which in turn caused problems due to copyright infringement.^{[citation needed]} However, the song reached #8 on the country charts.^[28]

In The Simpsons episode "Lisa's First Word", one-year-old Bart Simpson watches an episode of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. Johnny remarked: "No, this is true. The Coast Guard arrested Boy George for scraping the barnacles on his dinghy." Ed McMahon chuckles with his trademark "Hiyo!" laugh, and Bart laughs "Hiyo!" as well.^{[citation needed]}

Boy George was portrayed on film by Douglas Booth in the BBC2 drama documentary Worried About the Boy. The TV film was aired in May 2010.^[29]

Discography[link]

Notes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Boy George

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Boy George

• Official website
• Boy George on Myspace
• Boy George at the Internet Movie Database
• Boy George at the Internet Broadway Database
• Boy George Website

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2010)

David Alan Gest (born May 11, 1953) is an American concert promoter and media personality, perhaps best known for his turbulent marriage to Liza Minnelli, friendship with The Jackson 5 and appearance on the 2006 series of the British reality television show I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!.

Personal life[link]

Gest was born in Los Angeles and grew up in Southern California where he counted Tito Jackson and his brothers as childhood friends. He currently resides in Memphis, Tennessee and the United Kingdom.

Gest has admitted that in the 1980s he had multiple plastic surgery operations from the same plastic surgeon used by Michael Jackson. He has stated he regrets the operations but no one could have stopped him at the time.^[3]

Gest and Liza Minnelli were married on March 16, 2002, and separated less than a year and a half later in July 2003.^[4] In October 2003 he sued her for $10 million claiming that she had been violent and physically abusive during their marriage, behavior the affidavit blamed on Minnelli's persistent alcoholism.^[4] Minnelli denied the accusations, claiming Gest was simply after money. The suit was dismissed in September 2006 for lack of triable issue of fact.^[5]

[edit] I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here!

Gest finished in 4th place on the 2006 series of I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here! on ITV in the UK and proved to be popular, with his stories and "Get me outta here song" with fellow contestant Toby Anstis. He was "evicted" from the show on November 30, 2006.

Other work[link]

In January 2007, Gest appeared as a judge on ITV1's Soapstar Superstar, for one night replacing Michael Ball who was coaching the singers.

Later that month it was announced that Gest had signed a one year deal by ITV to appear in his own reality series entitled This Is David Gest. The show began on April 22, 2007. Viewers were treated to hairdressers covering David's baldness with black make-up and various shots of David in bed. He also took cameras for a rare glimpse of the Jackson family house in Encino, California, where he met Tito and his children as well as matriarch Katherine Jackson. He was one of the four judges on ITV1's entertainment series Grease Is the Word.

Gest was released from his ITV contract in July because they had no idea what to do with him and both shows he appeared in with the network did not do well in terms of ratings.^[6] Gest was quick to come out and say that he wanted to be released: "My lawyers negotiated an early release so I could host The Friday Night Project on Channel 4," Gest told The Sun.^[7]

In April 2007, his autobiography, titled Simply The Gest, was released. The book is a mixture of memoirs, and Gest's personal views on life.

In June 2008, Gest contributed a monologue to the song 'Bring You Down' by Attic Lights in which he delved into his split from Liza Minnelli. In one line, Gest says: "I never knew a woman could be so cold."^[8]

On 12 December 2010 Gest appeared on UK TV's Channel 4 in a Christmas special edition of Come Dine With Me alongside Diarmuid Gavin, Hannah Waterman and Sherrie Hewson.

References[link]

External links[link]

• David Gest at the Internet Movie Database
• This Is David Gest blog
• Text of lawsuit Gest filed against Minnelli in October 2003
• 2004 interview on Extratv.com

Amy Lamé (born January 1971). American-born, naturalised British performer and radio presenter.

Biography[link]

Born and raised in New Jersey, Amy Lame (born Amy Caddle) moved to London in 1992.

Career[link]

Performance[link]

In 1994 Lamé made her stage debut in her first one-woman show 'Gay Man Trapped in a Lesbian's Body' as part of ICA London's 'Spring Exhibitions' programme.^[1] In 2006 Amy created her third one-woman show Amy Lamé’s Mama Cass Family Singers. The show debuted at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival ^[2] and was later performed at the Soho Theatre, London,^[3] toured the UK and performed at The Powerhouse, Brisbane, Australia ^[4] She has held pom-pom making parties at Duckie, London's Lesbian and Gay Festival 2008 and in Northern Ireland where she held the 'Pom-poms for Peace Project'.^[5]

Duckie[link]

In 1995 Lamé co-founded the Olivier-award-winning performance-club-night and collective, Duckie, with Simon Strange, which she hosts every Saturday night at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern. Working with the Duckie collective in 1997, Amy produced and hosted The World's First Lesbian Beauty Contest.^[6] In 1996 she curated, produced and hosted Keep The Faith^[7] at Tate Britain which explored the links between the gallery's permanent collection and faith. She commissioned new work to be shown in the gallery for one night only including an interactive performance installation tea party with 30 Anglican priests; Joshua Sofaer's tale of meeting his Jews for Jesus missionary namesake, Joshua Sofaer, in Namesake: The Story of a Name; Jonathan Allen/Tommy Angel's performance exploring evangelism and belief using magic and illusion; and a Buddhist tour of the gallery. The event had the highest ever recorded number of participants - over 5,000 - for a Late at Tate.^[7]

Radio[link]

She presents alongside Danny Baker on BBC London's afternoon show between 3-5pm Monday to Friday.^[8] Amy is the co-founder and co-presenter of HomoLAB a weekly queer cultural and current affairs podcast.^[9]

TV[link]

She was a presenter on the BBC2 show GaytimeTV for 3 series^[10] and then went on to create and host her own panel game-show, The Staying In Show for Channel 4.^[11] Amy has appeared on Market Kitchen for the last 3 years as features presenter^[12] and ITV reality shows Celebrity Fit Club^[13] and CelebAir.^[14] She was the mentor for LGB teenagers on C4’s My Big Gay Prom.^[15] In 2009, she appeared in a Doctor Who related documentary titled 'Look 100 Years Younger', included on the DVD release for The Twin Dilemma, in which she discussed with actor Colin Baker the various costumes worn by the character of the Doctor over the decades. Most recently in 2012 she appeared on Channel 4's live satirical comedy/news programme 10 O'Clock Live to discuss the current state of the National Health Service.

Writing[link]

Lamé has contributed short stories to the anthology Typical Girls.^[16] She also writes regular features on culture, travel and food for The Times.^[17]

Politics[link]

She is an active member of the Labour party. Amy is mentioned in Sarah Brown's memoirs Behind the Black Door, where she details Amy's hen night celebrations in Downing Street.^[18]

From May 2010 to May 2011, she was Mayoress of London Borough of Camden alongside Mayor Jonathan Simpson.^[19]

Charity work[link]

She hosted the Stonewall Equality Dinner at the Dorchester Hotel for the last 5 years.^[20]

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.amylame.com Amy Lamé's website and blog since 2007
• http://amylame.blogspot.com/ Amy Lamé's pre-2007 blog
• http://www.mamacassfamilysingers.com Mama Cass Family Singers: Official Site
• http://www.duckie.co.uk Duckie
• http://www.pompominternational.com Pom Pom International

Gillian Taylforth
Born	(1955-08-14) 14 August 1955 (age 56) London, England
Height	5ft 7inch

Gillian Taylforth (born 14 August 1955 in London) is an English actress. She is best known for her roles as Kathy Mitchell (formerly Kathy Beale) on the BBC soap opera, EastEnders (1985–2000) and as Jackie Pascoe-Webb on ITV's Footballers Wives (2002–2006), but more recently as Sgt. Nikki Wright in ITV's The Bill (2006–2008). Away from television acting, she has appeared in film during her early career, and has presented on ITV's Loose Women as well as appearing as a celebrity contestant on Strictly Come Dancing in 2008.

Taylforth's relationship with Geoff Knight spanned 23 years and was heavily focused upon in the media due to his reported abusive behaviour. In 1994, Taylforth sued The Sun newspaper for libel after they ran a story claiming she had been caught by police performing a sexual act on Knight in their car; she lost the court case.

Career[link]

Early career[link]

Taylforth started her career in the 1970s and attended the Anna Scher Theatre School in London. Before securing her big acting break Taylforth worked as a secretary between minor acting roles. Early television appearances include roles in the BBC comedy Hi-de-Hi!, Shelley, Play for Today, On Safari, Minder, Sink or Swim and The Rag Trade. In 1980 she won the role of Sherry in the film The Long Good Friday, which proved to be extremely successful at the box office.

[edit] EastEnders

On 19 February 1985, Taylforth appeared as Kathy Beale in the first episode of the BBC's new soap opera EastEnders. This role earned her huge popularity and public recognition on British television. Taylforth's character was in the show on and off from 1985 until 2000, and covered an array of serious issues including rape, domestic violence, teenage pregnancy, divorce, alcoholism and meningitis. She became one of the longest running characters to feature in the soap, but eventually quit in 1998, and made a brief return in 1999 to aid the departure of actor Ross Kemp, who played her character's brother-in-law, Grant Mitchell. Taylforth made her last appearance as Kathy on 6 January 2000.

Although press rumours throughout 2005 suggested that Taylforth was returning to the show,^[1] this did not occur and the character of Kathy died off-screen in February 2006, in a car crash in South Africa. Taylforth has commented: "I was a bit upset at first because it was 13 years of my life and I didn't like the thought of being killed off. I thought she might come back to see Ian (her on-screen son) and have some illness. But that's the way it goes."^[2]

Other work and roles[link]

After quitting EastEnders Taylforth was cast as Jackie Pascoe-Webb in ITV's popular televised drama, Footballers Wives. In a Channel 4 poll for the 100 Greatest Sexy Moments, a time where she ends up having sex on top of a snooker table with Cristian Solimeno, was placed at number 49. She played the role for all five series, which made her the only cast member to appear in every series without taking a break. (Zöe Lucker also appeared in all five series, but left midway through the 4th series before returning towards the end of the final one.)

In 2006 she played the role of Mandy Searle in the comedy/drama Jane Hall and she also has appeared as a recurring panelist on ITV's topical chat-show Loose Women (2000, 2006 and 2008). She won a regular part in ITV's police drama The Bill playing Sergeant Nikki Wright, and made her first screen appearance on 8 November 2006.^[3] Taylforth left the role in 2008.

Strictly Come Dancing[link]

Taylforth was partnered with Anton Du Beke in the sixth series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2008 but was voted off in Week 2 after a dance-off with Jodie Kidd.^[4] It later emerged that Taylforth had suffered torn knee ligaments whilst in training for the live shows but chose to dance on regardless.^[5]