For every pop star you love, there is another equally iconic pop star that inspired them, and that includes the ‘80s musician who used to follow David Bowie around (much to Bowie’s wife’s chagrin). In hindsight, the connection between early 1970s, Ziggy Stardust-era Bowie and this future pop star is as obvious and vibrant as either artist’s eccentric aesthetic.
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But in 1971, the soon-to-be star was just a random 10-year-old loitering on David and Angie Bowie’s front sidewalk.
The ‘80s Pop Star Who Used To Follow David Bowie Around
One doesn’t need to stretch the imagination too far to see a clear line between David Bowie’s flamboyant, early 1970s style and the pop stars who came after him in the previous decade, like Boy George. Both Bowie and Boy George are known for their flamboyant styles as much as they are for the music they’ve made. The latter artist has said he had already started curating his unique style before he became a massive Bowie fan. But the introduction of Ziggy Stardust certainly informed Boy George’s creative trajectory with relative significance. After all, Boy George wasn’t just a casual listener of Bowie’s music. He was a devoted follower, practically to a fault.
During a February 2024 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Boy George recalled frequently sitting outside Bowie’s home in Beckingham’s Haddon Hall. Bowie, his wife, Angie, and various musicians lived in the first-floor flat of the massive Victorian mansion in the early 1970s. Eager to catch a glimpse of the man behind The Man Who Sold the World, the then-10-year-old Boy George and his like-minded friends would often sit in the front yard of Haddon Hall and wait for someone to walk outside.
“I sat outside his house with many fans,” the musician told Fallon. “There were lots of fans that sat outside, waiting to see if he came out simply to see what shoes he might be wearing.” Although he never saw Bowie in person, he recalled, “There was this one time when Angie Bowie opened the window and told us all to “F off.” We were kind of thrilled even though she wasn’t being friendly. It was like, ‘Oh my god, she saw us. We do matter!’”
A Lifelong Admiration That Developed In Childhood
Boy George discussed the childhood origins of his lifelong love of David Bowie on a February 2025 episode of The LuLu Podcast. The “Karma Chameleon” singer credited his older brother for being a major influence on his musical taste simply because he was old enough to go out and about without supervision. “He was allowed to get things. So, he would come back with, like, platform shoes and Alice Cooper albums and Slade and whatever it may be. I was just one of those kids, very magpie-like, I wanted to hear everything.” His brother was a fan of Bowie’s 1970 record, The Man Who Sold the World. But after Bowie introduced his Ziggy Stardust persona, Boy George’s brother opted to have a decidedly less flamboyant singer, Rod Stewart, replace Bowie as his favorite artist.
For Boy George, of course, Ziggy fit perfectly. “That was like, ‘Hand it over,’” the musician recalled to host and singer-songwriter Lulu. Boy George continued to watch Bowie perform regularly, even ditching school when necessary to catch a live performance. After Boy George became famous as one of the most ubiquitous pop stars of the 1980s, the “Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?” singer would send Bowie what he described as “tirades of love and worship, and I’d get like a line back.”
Bowie might not have matched Boy George in prose, but we don’t doubt Boy George’s inner 10-year-old boy would be satisfied enough to have a direct line of communication with his childhood idol in the first place. (And fortunately, sending an email is less disruptive than sitting in someone’s front yard.)
Photo by Daily Mirror/Mirrorpix/Mirrorpix via Getty Images
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