On one level it was unsurprising that the UK fell so dramatically in love with Boy George's combination of soul-influenced pop and drag when his band Culture Club emerged from London's early 80s scene. A bit of pantomime cross-dressing has long been a tradition in British rock.

More startling was the band's huge success in the US a country which famously failed to warm to glam's more effeminate practitioners but where Culture Club became the first band since the Beatles to have three top 10 hits from their debut album. There the singer's voice was compared to that of Smokey Robinson.

Their second album 1983's Colour By Numbers sold 9m copies worldwide while the single Karma Chameleon went to No 1 in 16 countries.

Despite the carefully maintained squeaky-clean image in reality the 80s pop scene was hugely excessive. If nothing else the public announcement of Boy George's heroin addiction - by his brother in 1986 - destroyed that facade. It also effectively brought an end to Culture Club's career.

George's debut solo single a cover of Bread's Everything I Own was a No 1 but his solo career continued erratically in the 80s and 90s. Despite occasional hits and the West End success of his musical Taboo he became more popular as a personality suggesting his bitchy wit had weathered the years rather better than Culture Club's music.

George became addicted to cocaine during Taboo's brief Broadway run. Arrested for possession in 2005 he was sentenced to community service which included a high-profile bout of street-sweeping.

None of this appeared to impact upon his popularity in Britain. Whether a jail term for false imprisonment will is a moot point but given past evidence of his ability to overcome bad publicity it seems unlikely.