Weeks later he was back, ceremoniously carried inside, Cleopatra-style, by bouncers on a litter.When I meet him at his Camden-based record company, there’s no trace of make-up on his famous features. He recently claimed he was beaten up by bouncers outside a London club where he was DJing. or was it Buddhism?There was also his recent High Court defence, on the charge of malicious falsehood, and even a failed paternity suit from an American woman.So is he a habitual self-publicist, or just a singer with a naive sense of honesty? Boy George can safely claim to be both. For years, we’ve read about his sex life, drug addiction and conversion to Krishna… I want to push my voice a bit more and the new sound is more rhythmic with a lot of reggae.”A new, mature approach to his singing and writing career may well reinvigorate his music but, on past form, it’s hardly likely to keep his face out of the tabloids.

There are no plans to resurrect Culture Club, but a new album is in the pipeline.”I still do lots of singing all over the world with a band and I’ve been writing songs over the past year for a new album. People didn’t get the last album – there were too many things going on with classical stuff, heavy metal and acoustic stuff. When you’re playing a good set and people are going wild on the dancefloor, shouting for more, it’s just like being on stage.”Boy George performing without singing seems bizarre in view of the thrill which that voice brought to millions in bedrooms and discos up and down the country. Only the music and style of clothes has changed.DJing provides him with the familiarity of performing to a crowd “”I’m not the sort of person who stands on the periphery I get involved, often to the point of looking silly. I’ve still got a lot to learn but I’ve been performing since 1981, so DJing isn’t something I get nervous about.”He may not know it all, but his Annual II album, mixed with Pete Tong for Ministry of Sound, sold more than 450,000 copies, making it one of the best-selling dance albums ever.So is clubland a world away from Culture Club? “I’ve been in clubs since I was 15,” George says, “so I’ve been involved in almost every scene since then.

In cool clubland, DJs need to mix records to earn respect.”When I started, I was a complete technophobe,” he confesses. “I’d had decks in my flat since 1984 but had never tried any mixing. I had a few disasters in the beginning but I never took it too seriously then.”It has a lot to do with confidence. Music is all important and must be presented in a certain style. A boring tape was playing so I suggested that they get someone to play some records,” George explains. “They said, ‘Why don’t you do it?’ so I said ‘Give me pounds 300 and I will’, and they did.”Clubbers do not readily take celebrity DJs to heart.