Boy George and Culture Club bandmates to pay £1.75m to ex-drummer

Boy George and his Culture Club bandmates to pay £1.75 million to ex-drummer as High Court trial which could have racked up millions in costs is avoided with just a week to go

  • Jon Moss, 65, was a founding member of the band which shot to fame in the 80s

Boy George and his Culture Club bandmates are set to pay out £1.75million to the group’s former drummer to settle a row over profits – a week before they were due to go to a costly trial.

Jon Moss, 65, was a founding member of the band which shot to fame in the 1980s, but alleges he was ‘expelled’ by their manager in September 2018 after 37 years playing with them.

The drummer brought legal action against lead singer Boy George, guitarist Roy Hay and bassist Michael Craig, which was set to determine the band’s profits since his departure.

I’m a Celebrity star Boy George – whose real name is George O’Dowd – and his bandmates are now expected to pay a settlement of £1.75million to Mr Moss immediately.

The court order, issued on Tuesday, states that the group had agreed that a judgment should be made in favour of Mr Moss, The Mirror reports.

I’m a Celebrity star Boy George – whose real name is George O’Dowd – and his bandmates are now expected to pay the sum to Mr Moss immediately

Jon Moss, 65, was a founding member of the 1980s band, but alleges he was ‘expelled’ by their manager in September 2018 after 37 years playing with them

It means the musicians will avoid a six-day trial, which had been due to start next week, to determine the amount its former drummer might be entitled to.

The trial had been set to put a value on the Culture Club name – with the New Romantic band known for hits including Do You Really Want To Hurt Me and Karma Chameleon.

The order, approved by Mrs Justice Joanna Smith, additionally said that Mr Moss agreed to ‘relinquish’ any right to the Culture Club name and its use.

It comes around ten months after Mr Moss’s barrister, Celia Rooney, told the court that efforts to come to a resolution had ‘not been fruitful’.

She added that there was a ‘considerable lack of trust and goodwill’ between the former bandmates, The Times reports.

Jon Moss and Boy George pictured together in London in 1981, before their rise to fame

Culture Club group portrait, Washington DC, August 1983, (clockwise from top left) Boy George, Roy Hay, Mikey Craig and Jon Moss

With mediation failing, the barrister said, it was likely that costs in a court battle may have amounted to millions.

Last year, the court was told that Mr Moss was amending his legal challenge to include allegations that Boy George ‘conspired to defraud’ him over the Life Tour money.

He claimed this was after he learnt that funds were released to a US company, You Give Me Life, Inc (YGML), said to be a personal service company of Mr O’Dowd’s, following the settlement of legal proceedings in America in January 2021. 

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