Boy George has been forced to cancel all of his upcoming American shows because officials have refused to grant him a visa to enter the country.

The former Culture Club star, whose real name is George O'Dowd, have been due to kick off his 25-city tour in Aspen on July 25th.

He was also scheduled to perform a one-off show at the New York City Department of Sanitation's Family Day in August. The singer had worked at the department in 2006 while serving a court-ordered community service in a drug case.

O'Dowd had his request for a visa turned down last week because he is currently waiting trial in the UK, charged with falsely imprisoning a man in his London home.

In a statement, O'Dowd said: "I was really hoping that the issue would be resolved and that some kind soul at the US Visa Office would realise that if the police in the UK placed no restrictions on my movements, that should have been good enough for them."

He said he was “very sorry” that he would not be able to see his American fans and wished them a happy independence day on Friday (July 4th).

“I include the Visa Office in those good wishes and realise they are doing a very difficult job and I just got unlucky,” he added.

(by Jason Gregory)