Former Culture Club singer Boy George is back in the music business following a lengthy time away. George, whose real name is George O’Dowd, says he lost interest in music as he descended in drugs, much like he did in his 80s heyday. He also spent a period in jail for imprisoning and assaulting a male escort.

“I haven’t put anything out properly for a long time,” said George in a recent interview. “I’ve not done the professional thing for a while. It just was about time really.

“I’ve done a lot of procrastinating in the last few years. I had my drug addiction, which got in the way of everything to do with work. Since getting clean, it seems the natural thing to do.

“Probably over the last few years, if you’d have asked people exactly what I do, they probably would have said, ‘Oh, he gets arrested a lot.’

“So I wanted to remind people that I’m a musician and an entertainer.”

However, despite getting clean, George admits that he will have to be wary of not succumbing to the temptation again.

“It’s really about not putting yourself in risky situations. Most of the people that I’m friendly with are in recovery or they’re clean or they’ve never used at all.

“You’ve got to be careful. I’m an addict – it can happen at any time so you’ve got to stay away. And it’s difficult because there’s a lot of it around.

“But if you do find yourself in a situation where there are drugs being used you’ve just got to get out of Dodge.”

“I don’t think when you’re an addict you’re really aware of what you’re doing.

“It’s only in hindsight when you look back and you realise you were slowly poisoning yourself.

“Death is certainly where it can end up. At the time you don’t have perspective and you’re not able to be rational. You think you’re invincible.”

George’s new single, Amazing Grace is out on Monday and he has admitted his desire to team up with Lady Gaga some time soon.

“When I went to see her live, my favourite bit was she just sits down and does the piano and vocal thing,” he said.

“Certainly if we were going to do something like that – something quite emotional – I’d be very interested.

“We’ve met and it wasn’t discussed, but it was very brief. She was lovely. I signed a hat for her!”