The Prodigy

The Prodigy are an English electronic dance music group formed by Liam Howlett in 1990 in Braintree, Essex, England. Along with Fatboy Slim, the Chemical Brothers, and other acts, The Prodigy have been credited as pioneers of the big beat genre, which achieved mainstream popularity in the 1990s and 2000s. They have sold over 25 million records worldwide. The group has won numerous music awards throughout their career, including two Brit Awards—winning Best British Dance Act twice, three MTV Video Music Awards, two Kerrang! Awards, five MTV Europe Music Awards, and have twice been nominated for Grammy Awards.
The group's brand of music makes use of various styles ranging from rave, hardcore techno, industrial, and breakbeat in the early 1990s to big beat and electronic rock with punk vocal elements in later times. The current members include Liam Howlett (keyboardist and composer), Keith Flint (dancer and vocalist), and Maxim (MC and vocalist). Leeroy Thornhill (dancer and occasional live keyboardist) was a member of the band from 1990 to 2000, as was a female dancer and vocalist called Sharky who left the group during their early period. The Prodigy first emerged on the underground rave scene in the early 1990s, and have since then achieved immense popularity and worldwide renown.

Liam Howlett created an initial 10-track demo, put together on a Roland W-30 music workstation in Essex, England. XL Recordings picked up the demo after Howlett played several tracks to XL boss Nick Halkes in a meeting, and an initial 12" pressing of "What Evil Lurks" was released in February 1991. The Prodigy's name was chosen by Liam as a tribute to his first analogue synthesiser, the Moog Prodigy.However, the name may also derive from the band's possible desire to consider themselves "prodigies" of Gary Glitter.
Following the international success of Music for the Jilted Generation, the band augmented their line-up with guitarist Jim Davies (a live band member who later joined the group Pitchshifter) in 1995 for tracks such as "Their Law", "Break and Enter 95", and various live-only interludes and versions. He was soon to be replaced by Gizz Butt of the band Janus Stark, who remained with the band for the next three years.
In June of 1999, when the band had arguably reached their commercial peak, they parted company with guitarist Gizz Butt. Following 1999, Thornhill departed from the group while he divorced Sara Cox due to the risk of nervous breakdown, resulting in the band's website being replaced with their logo and the words "We will be back..." set against a black background, a stint that it'd remain until 2002.
In year 2002 Howlett and All Saints' Natalie Appleton got married on 6 June. Their son, Ace Billy, was born on 2 March 2004.

Members

Current members

Keith Flint – vocals, dancer (1990–present)


Maxim – vocals, MC (1990–present)


Liam Howlett – keyboards, synthesizers, drum machine, programming (1990–present)



Live members

Leo Crabtree – drums, percussion (2008–present)


Rob Holliday – guitar, bass (2005–2006, 2008–present)

Former members
Leeroy Thornhill – dancing, occasional live keyboards (1990–2000)
Sharky – dancing (1990–1991)

Former live members

Kieron Pepper – drums, percussion, occasional guitar (1997–2007)

"The Rev" – guitar (2007)
"Snell" – drums (July 2007)
Brian Fairbairn – drums (2007)
Jim Davies – guitar (1995–1996, 2002–2004)
Alli MacInnes – guitar (2001, 2002)
Gizz Butt – guitar (1996–1999)


Studio albums:
Experience (1992)
Music for the Jilted Generation (1994)
The Fat of the Land (1997)
Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned (2004)

Invaders Must Die (2009)
The Day Is My Enemy (2015)

Live albums:
World's on Fire (2011)