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BOY GEORGE & MARTIN DEGVILLE

I first meet Martin Degville in Bournemouth  1977. I spotted him from miles away in the street. He wasn't like the other punks, he was wearing stiletto heels and had a massive bleached quiff and huge padded shoulders.  He looked brilliant, I had to talk to him.  He was a bit snotty at first until I recognized his accent and told him I had relatives in Brum. He gave me his number. Some weeks later I had the most brilliant weekend hanging out with Martin and his friends   After this,spring 1979, I was seventeen, Martin offered me a room at the flat and a job working on this clothes stall. Martin flat and my new home was an old disused dental studio above a bathroom-fittings shop. Martin had the biggest and best room on the first floor. Looking extreme was no act for Martin, it was his natural state. He couldnt have looke normal if he tried with his shaved eyebrows and gaunt cheeks. He looked like an Alsatian from outer space. I loved watching him paint his face, crouched down in front of the mirror like a kabuki star, clothes strewn everywhere, the strains of northern soul wafting through the air. We thought we were stars anyway,  both of us lived to be noticed,  but Martin and I had very different personalities.  Martin wa cool and alien, already a legend on the Birmingham club scene.  he could be a bit rude and snotty.  I was bitchy but I would talk to everyone.  I made friends quickly.  both of us had a mad crush on Roger Taylor, drummer in Duran Duran,  who were just forming around that time.  He was a sweety guy - he used to come to clubs with us and often spent the night at Goodall Street in Martin's bed.  Martin assured me nothing happened.  I wouldn't have let him just lie there. Martin and I entered a competition at a glitzy new club called the Holy City Zoo,  owned by Andy Gray, a footballer with Aston Villa.  I was voted weirdest person in the north.  Much to Martin's annoyance.  he thought I was his clone.  He influenced me, it's true, but I had plenty of my own colorful ideas and a personality to match.        Boy George - Take It Like A Man- 1995

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