Culture Club were formed in 1981 after Boy George, then known as ‘Lieutenant Lush’ and performing in a group called Bow Wow Wow, fell out with the group’s lead singer, Annabella Lwin, and decided to start his own band, enlisting Mikey Craig (bass), drummer Jon Moss, and Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards). The new group attracted attention from EMI, who paid for them to record some demos, but the label were unimpressed and decided not to sign them. However, Virgin Records heard the demos and signed Culture Club in the UK, with Epic Records handling the release of their albums in the US (as Virgin did not have a major US presence at the time). The first 2 singles to be released from their debut album, 1982’s “Kissing to Be Clever”, failed to reach either the UK or US Top 100 ("White Boy" and "I'm Afraid of Me"), but third single "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me" soared to number 1 in the UK and a dozen other countries, and made number 2 in the US. Follow-up single "Time (Clock of the Heart)" became another hit, making number 3 in the UK and a second consecutive US number 2, and "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" made the Top 10 of both the US (number 9) and Canada, making Culture Club the first group since The Beatles to have 3 Top 10 hits from a debut album in the US. “Kissing to Be Clever” sold over 5 million copies worldwide, including 2 million in the US, peaking in the Top 5 of the UK Album chart, and reaching number 14 on the US Billboard.

Culture Club’s second album, “Colour by Numbers” was released in 1983. First single "Church of the Poison Mind" (featuring backing vocalist Helen Terry) reached the UK and US Top 10, but it was follow up single "Karma Chameleon" that gave the band its biggest hit. The single made number 1 in the UK (selling 1.4 million copies to become the best-selling single of the year), held number 1 in the US for 3 weeks, and topped the charts in 16 other countries, becoming one of the 20 best selling singles of the 1980s. More hits followed, including "Miss Me Blind" (US number 5), "It's a Miracle" (UK number 4, US number 13), and "Victims" (UK number 3). “Colour by Numbers” topped the UK Album charts, made number 2 on the US Billboard, sold over 9 million copies worldwide, including 4 million in the US, and 1 million in Canada (Culture Club became the first group in music history to have an album certified diamond (over 1 million copies sold) in Canada). The band also won the 1984 Grammy Award for “Best New Artist”.

Culture Club were asked to write 2 songs for the soundtrack to the movie “Electric Dreams”, so George and Hay wrote "The Dream" and "Love Is Love", the latter being released as a single in Canada and Japan (the "Love is Love" EP became a major hit in Japan). George also collaborated on the song "Electric Dreams", sung by P. P. Arnold, and written with Phil Pickett (who had co-written "Karma Chameleon" with the band and frequently played keyboards for them).

In 1984, the group released its third album, “Waking Up with the House on Fire”, which peaked at number 2 in the UK and number 26 in the US, selling over 2 million copies worldwide. The album had 1 hit single, "The War Song", which went Top 10 and Top 20 in the UK and US respectively. Other singles released did not enjoy the same success, including "Mistake No. 3" (US number 33) and "The Medal Song" (UK number 32). Fourth studio album, 1986's “From Luxury to Heartache”, made the Top 10 in the UK, and number 32 in the US, selling over 1 million copies, with first single "Move Away" becoming a UK number 7 and US number 12 hit. However, the band began to disintegrate, with front man George pursuing a solo career which produced several European hits and a couple of US Top 40 hits.

Culture Club tried to reunite in 1989, resulting in recording sessions that produced more than a dozen still unreleased songs, but for various reasons the reunion stalled. Boy George went on to establish the record label More Protein, which concentrated on dance-oriented music. In 1998, the band tried again, with a successful reunion tour, and the release of a compilation album, ”Greatest Moments”, which went platinum in UK, and included new songs such as "I Just Wanna Be Loved" (UK number 4). This was followed by a new studio album in 1999, “Don't Mind If I Do”, which peaked at number 64 in the UK, and included the hits "Your Kisses Are Charity" (UK number 25) and "Cold Shoulder" (UK number 43). The group played a 20th anniversary concert in 2002 at London’s Royal Albert Hall, a performance that was released on DVD the following year, however Culture Club then became inactive again. In 2006, Craig and Moss tried to launch a new tour, with the band’s record company placing an ad for a lead singer to “… take part in a 2007 World Tour and TV series” (George and Hay had declined to tour). The new singer, Sam Butcher, was selected, and a tour was announced for December 2006 in the UK, but was postponed to give the new line-up time to finish recording their album.

Culture Club have sold around 22 million albums worldwide.