Boy George Remembers Witnessing Upsetting Reaction to Elvis Presley’s Death When He Was a Teen in London (Exclusive)

NEED TO KNOW

• Boy George was a 16-year-old growing up in England when Elvis Presley went from topping the charts to dying from a heart attack in 1977 at age 42

• The entertainer, 65, tells PEOPLE about the different influences that shaped both his music and his sense of style

• The Brit remembers being in London on the night that Presley died and how he was impacted by the reaction

Boy George has too much perspective to be affected by hate.

The British entertainer, 65, is working with Julien’s Auctions for the Bold Luxury: Boy George Edit auction, a portion of the proceeds from which will benefit MusiCares®. Speaking with PEOPLE at the preview for the auction at New York City’s Soho Grand Hotel, Boy George talked about his music and style influences as a teen in the UK.

“Everything I do is influenced by rabbis, rastas; it’s all connected. The music I liked, everything is so part of the sort of big, ‘chuck it all in the pot,’ London 1970s. Some house is playing reggae, someone else is playing Irish rebel songs. There’s just so much,” the singer shared.

He continued, “As a punk, there was a lot to rebel against and a lot to feel about. I was interested because I was like a glam rock kid who got into punk but also loved Motown and soul. So I would never give up things I loved.”

His tastes didn’t always align with those around him, but he felt strongly about the artists he was passionate about.

“I remember being in the Roxy Club in London the night Elvis died and people cheered and I was really offended. I went outside and I felt sad. I was like, ‘Really? You take your clothes that seriously? You can’t be serious,’ ” he tells PEOPLE.

“I love rock and roll. I love iconic things like Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, and some [stars] you wouldn’t know, like Poly Styrene, Ari Up from the Slits, Siouxsie Sioux. But a lot of my heroes when I was a kid with girls, Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, tough girls who would take a cigarette and put it out on a plate of prawns, no problem,” George noted.

Those influences have shown up in refreshing ways for George as he curated the items for the auction, a portion of whose proceeds will benefit MusiCares.

“Doing this collection has really brought back some really interesting ideas musically, socially; you suddenly realize everything’s cyclical, that we’re back in the ’70s now. There’s a really ’70s energy in the world with what’s going on politically and that kind of really, really clear divisions, because I always used to say growing up like good and bad knew itself, right and wrong had an idea of what they were,” he shares. 

“Now it’s quite difficult to say. But I still think that as long as the world exists, people will be arguing about how they look rather than dealing with how they feel. And that’s really the classic lesson, isn’t it? If I could jump back to all those times, I would love to do as the person I am now, because I’ve got all this wisdom, this experience and I know how to have fun and I know that you can’t pause life. Life is always now. It’s not next week, or if the record charts, it’s not if he kisses you, or if the train’s late. It’s always now.”

Reviewing his archive was eye-opening, as George noted his old pieces and photographs of him in them remind him of “how insecure I was.”

“Looking at the photos, I go, ‘Oh my God, I look amazing. Oh my God, remember I really hated myself? Oh my God, I thought I was this, I thought I was that.’ You’re never right about anything,” he shared. “And I think that if there’s anything I’ve really learned, it is that there’s something very joyful about being able to change your mind even on something that you’ve really held onto, whether it’s a fight with someone, someone broke your heart or whatever, or someone’s done a terrible thing.” 

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He continued, “I’m a very forgiving person and I do feel like I’ve been forgiven a lot myself. And being a Gemini, I can love and hate you at the same time. But then I also look at all my favorite heroes of all my life, from Oscar Wilde to Quentin Crisp, to Elvis, to Bowie, to Jagger, to Madonna even, Prince, all of those people are flawed.”

“There’s an assumption if you got rid of all the flawed people and placed them with less flawed people, they would also have flaws. I think it’s interesting that certain outfits make me think of so many things. It’s not that I suppressed it, because as I’ve got older, I’m much more open to, ‘Oh yeah, I wonder what I was feeling. What was that? What drove that? What gave me the confidence to do that?’ I mean, I think when you’re young, it’s belligerence.”

Read the original article on People