Boy George had to call off the reunion tour of Culture Club after the singer discovered he had developed a potentially serious throat problem. Apparently, he complained about having trouble with his voice “on and off for a few months” and that one of his vocal cords has hemorrhaged to the point it will not close fully when he sings. Boy George revealed that a Los Angeles doctor diagnosed him with a polyp and warned him of the risk of “irreparable damage” if he went ahead with the tour, SkyNews reports. “To say I’m devastated barely touches how I feel”, George wrote on his Facebook page. “I want to be able to perform to the best of my ability and the specialist has told me that right now that will be impossible,” “I will focus on getting better and see all my fans soon,” he added.
Culture Club were supposed to play 10 shows in the U.S., moving from west coast to east, before beginning an 11-date tour in the U.K. It would have been the first tour since 2002 featuring Boy George and band mates bassist Mikey Craig, guitarist and keyboardist Roy Hay and drummer Jon Moss, Hollywood Reporter notes. The band hopes they will be able to reschedule. They have already recorded a new album, “Tribes”, which is due to be released early 2015.
Formed in 1981 in London,Culture Club are considered one of the most representative and influential groups of the 80’s. In their career they have sold more than 50 million records and ten of their singles reached the US Top 40. The band became an international sensation starting with its first album in 1982, Kissing To Be Clever, which included the hit Do You Really Want To Hurt Me. Boy George’s real name is George O’Dowd and he has stayed active outside Culture Club as a solo musician, DJ, memoirist and the writer of the musical Taboo.