Karma: My Autobiography

The Grammy, Brit, and Ivor Novello award-winning lead singer of Culture Club and LGBTQ+ pioneer, Boy George, has written the ultimate autobiography, Karma. It chronicles the life of the charismatic frontman, including his struggle with addiction and recovery, his time in prison, his encounters with icons like David Bowie, Prince, and Madonna, and the highs and lows of a life lived in the public eye and the headlines.

Format: Hardback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 09 November 2023
Publisher: Bonnier Books Ltd

The Official Story of a Musical Icon - Told in Full for the First Time in His Own Words

Funny, smart, and heartbreaking. Incredible... go listen to it or read it.

Robbie Williams

The most entertaining music memoir since Elton John's Me...

This is George O Dowd in all his exhausting glory.

Observer

Joyously indiscreet

Daily Mail

I went to a lot of trouble to create Boy George and then I went through a whole battle for years about not wanting to be him. But now I enjoy and embrace it in a way that I wasn't able to as a young person.... I'm finally learning to be George Alan O Dowd from Eltham.

Karma is the definitive autobiography from the incomparable Grammy, Brit, and Ivor Novello award-winning lead singer of Culture Club and LGBTQ+ vanguard: Boy George. Told in his inimitable style, Karma tells the story of the charismatic frontman - the drama, the music, his journey of addiction and recovery, surviving prison, meeting legends like David Bowie, Prince, and Madonna, and the highs and lows of a life lived in the spotlight and in the headlines.

This is the explosive and searingly honest account of Boy George's life as a child growing up in sixties London, coming out to his Irish Catholic family and exploring his sexuality through the hedonism of the seventies - the glam rock and punk rock revolution that birthed Culture Club - and the heydays of the nineties, to finally embracing the man and artist that he is today. With all the humor, honesty, sarcasm (and hats!), Karma gives us a unique insight into Boy George's incredible story and the true evolution of a music icon.

Culture Club is always going to be one of those lovers I go back to. I've railed against it and that Boy George character I created. For years, I've convinced myself that I'm not that person. But I am. I'm just not as good at hiding it as I used to be.

I've spent a lot of time in therapy trying to figure out why I created that character. And I've come to the conclusion that it was a way for me to protect myself from the pain of growing up in a difficult family. My father was an alcoholic, and my mother was a drug addict. They were both abusive to me and my siblings.

Creating Boy George was a way for me to escape from my reality. I could pretend to be someone else, someone who was strong and confident and who had everything under control. It was a way for me to avoid the shame and embarrassment of my upbringing.

But as I've grown older, I've realized that I can't keep pretending to be someone I'm not. I need to accept myself for who I am, flaws and all. And that's what Karma is all about. It's a journey of self-discovery, of learning to love myself and to accept myself for who I am.

It's not easy, but it's worth it. I've finally found peace and happiness in my life, and I owe it all to the journey of self-discovery that I've been on.

I hope that my story will inspire others to take the same journey. To embrace themselves for who they are, flaws and all. To find the strength and courage to face their demons and to live their lives to the fullest.

Because life is too short to live in fear and shame. Life is too short to be someone that you're not. Life is too short to waste your time pretending to be someone else.

So, if you're reading this, I hope that you'll take the first step towards self-discovery. I hope that you'll embrace yourself for who you are, flaws and all. And I hope that you'll live your life to the fullest, just like I have.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story. And I hope that you'll never forget the power of self-love and self-acceptance.

Sincerely,

Boy George

Dimension: 234 x 153 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781785120350