Boy George has revealed he threatened to walk out on his Culture Club bandmates if they didn’t release Karma Chameleon – which went on to be their biggest hit.
The 61-year-old chart-topping singer had massive success in the 1980s as part of Culture Club, before going on to carve out his own successful solo career, selling over 150 million records worldwide.
Discussing his time in the band, George opened up to his fellow I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! campmates, including the likes of Mike Tindall, Jill Scott and even former health secretary Matt Hancock (who George had just shared a bushtucker trial with and scored the camp a full set of 11 stars).
As the lead singer of the band Culture Club, Boy George was the voice behind hits like Karma Chameleon, Do You Really Want to Hurt Me, and Time (Clock of the Heart), which saw them soar to the top of the charts.
The band also featured Roy Hay on the guitar and keyboards, Mikey Craig on bass guitar and formerly included Jon Moss on drums and percussion.
George explained: ‘We were called Caravan Club, we were called Can’t Wait Club and then were like, “We’re a Culture Club, look at us. You’re Jewish, I’m Irish, you’re Jamaican, Roy’s an Anglosaxon!!”‘
Boy George threatened to leave over Karma Chameleon (Picture: ITV/REX/Shutterstock)
He revealed of his bandmates: ‘Karma Chameleon they hated. They hated it.
‘They were like, “It’s the final nail in our coffin, it’s rubbish” and I had to fight to get it onto the record.
‘I had to say, “If you don’t put it on the record, I’m leaving the band.”‘
George added: ‘I did that every week though. Literally, I was the queen “stormer outer”. Every time I didn’t get my way I was like, “I’m leaving!”‘
The band had massive success in the 1980s (Picture: Rick Kern/WireImage)
Karma Chameleon, which was released in 1983, became their second single to reach the top of the UK Singles chart, and remained their for an impressive six-weeks, before becoming the biggest-selling single of that year.
He added that despite the band having a few breaks during their time, they never used to fight a lot or ‘take separate limos’.
Elsewhere, George also told his campmates about coming out, saying it wasn’t a surprise to anyone when he started dating boys.
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‘To start with, my mum would say [to my dad], “Look at what’s he’s wearing” and my dad used to get his paper [and drop it down to look] and go, “If he wants to get beat up let him go out” and that was it you know?’ George shared.
When Charlene White asked: ‘Was it a surprise to anybody when you were dating boys?’ George replied: ‘No. My dad used to do this thing in the car, he’d turn down the music when he was going to make an announcement.
‘My brothers were all going to work, he was like radio down, he goes, “I need to tell you about your brother.” And all my brothers went, “We know, turn the music up.”‘
I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! continues tomorrow night at 9pm on ITV.
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Karma Chameleon became their biggest hit.
