“I have the best job in the world,” says Boy George, calling from a tour stop in Florida. “There's not really a lot to moan or whine about. I've got the privilege of going out and doing something I absolutely love.”

The pop-soul singer is on the road with his band Culture Club, the Grammy-winning British new wave group that burst onto the music scene in the early 1980s. Back in its radio heyday, Culture Club recorded such enduring hits as “Karma Chameleon” and “Time (Clock of the Heart).” This is an edited transcript.

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Q: Are you seeing several generations of fans at your concerts?

A: We've always had an eclectic crowd, but I'm just starting to see these 12-year-old girls with the braids and the hats. (laughs) That's amazing. At this point, people have a real relationship with us. They want to have a good time. The show we do is one hit after another. We chuck in a new song here and there, but it's always carefully done — I don't want to alarm people. (laughs) It's such an affectionate atmosphere. It's lovely to see it. Parents often bring children. In fact, last night I was using a bit of bad language and then I suddenly saw this young child on someone's shoulders. I thought, “Oh no!” (laughs)

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Q: You're currently on a world tour. How do you maintain your energy?

A: The problem with being on the road — especially in a hot place like Florida — is that you can begin to think you're on holiday. You can partake of the buffet a little bit more than you should, so you have to have a routine. You have to eat at a certain time and eat properly. I have two meals a day. They can be good-sized meals. I don't starve. Nobody needs to worry about that — I'm not a sparrow. (laughs) I exercise. I go to the gym every day. It's about respecting what you're doing. You're going onstage. You have to be prepared.

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Q: Who are some of your vocal influences?

A: There are all the obvious ones — Nina Simone and Sly Stone. A big one is Gladys Knight. She's one of my favorite singers of all time. She has that great vibrato. I love that kind of laughter in her voice. Sometimes onstage at the end of a lick, I'll do that little laugh. That's my Gladys impersonation. I'm also very drawn to what I call character singers. I like a lot of impure voices — David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Leonard Cohen and Bob Dylan.

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Q: What was it like being a teen in the 1970s when punk was exploding in Great Britain?

A: The 1970s was probably the most exciting decade to be a teenager, from discovering Little Richard at the end of the 1960s to glam rock to punk rock to electro music. So much happened in that 10-year span. There were so many musical revolutions. Some were happening at the same time. You had disco going on behind punk. You had Michael Jackson. You had the Sex Pistols. Certainly for me, when punk exploded in the 1970s, it was just great.

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Q: You were briefly in the British new wave band Bow Wow Wow.

A: I did a few shows with them, then they threw me out of the band without telling me. They put a photo of me and (lead singer) Annabella Lwin in the music magazine New Musical Express. That's how I met Mikey Craig. He saw that photo, read that I was thrown out of the band and was interested. He thought maybe I could be in his band. That's how Culture Club started. I feel like my career has always been a series of collisions and accidents.

Chrissie Dickinson is a freelance writer.