From left to right:
Liam Howlett
Born: August 21st , 1971
From: Braintree, Essex
Band Status: Music composer
Maxim (Reality)
Real Name: Keeti Palmer
Born: July 26th, 1967
From: Peterborough, Cambridgeshire
Band Status: MC
Keith Flint
Born: September 17th, 1969
From: Braintree, Essex
Band Status: Dancer, Vocalist
Liam Howlett is from Cressing in Essex. He’s a classically trained pianist and DJ. His father had made him take up classical piano lessons since the age of 13 (but he still can’t read notes). When he went to school he learnt break-dancing and danced a lot with his crew Pure City Breakers.
Liam is the man behind the Prodigy. He is a musical genius. He writes, produces, mixes, performs and basically just does it all for the Prodigy. But don’t be fooled by those saying he’s the Prodigy – without the others, the whole Prodigy spirit would be nothing. He always works alone in his studio, he can write music only if he’s on his own and no one else is around and he like to work at night (he usually starts at 10 in the evening).
His history includes DJ-ing for a hip hop act which he became discriminated with, because he is white and there before was not as accepted as the others. From this he purchased a keyboard with the intention of making a few songs for fun.
He lived in Braintree for a long time (until the age of 26), but then he moved out of there setting up his studio in the Essex countryside. He also built a brand new home studio The Dirtchamber when he moved there. His old studio was called The Earthbound Studios. He also have a shared flat with Keith Flint near London clubland’s nerve centre of Hoxton Square.
He loves fast cars – among others, he had a Ford Cortina, a Mercedes Sport and an AC Cobra. His favorite car is the Ferrari F40. Maybe the most expensive car that he owns is a McLaren Mercedes f1.
His latest look is the dyed blond spikey hair. He has a very positive attitude, not really care what people say about his music and prefers if the band just remains to be called a dance group then anything else. Liam is known to be the most quiet one in the band. Except when he comes to interviews. He is always throwing in swear words somewhere. Especially when someone is complaining about his music. Nothing that anyone says will change the attitude.
Keith (the mad man) is also from Braintree, Essex. Keith was a big fan of raving in it’s inception around 1988 and was a regular on the M25 motorway scene. This is where he was with friends like Leeroy. Together they got to know Liam through mutual friends who were also ravers. Then they decided to form a dance act. Keith is the band’s most popular member. Probably because he makes himself well known especially by the way he looks.
His latest look is having his hair spiked up in the middle, having it blond, or maybe some kind of color. I’m not sure anymore, it changes to often :) He has about a hundred nose rings, earings and a tounge ring. He has tattoos including one across his stomach that says “Inflicted”.
Keith is known to be every parents nightmare, and also has a lot of complaints about how scary he is. One particular parent, in a letter to the BBC complaining about that video, have called him “a man in need of urgent medical attention”. Keith is the band’s dancer. He also likes to stick his tounge out a lot too. Lately he has been recording his screaming vocals on the music. He said “I’ve been screaming with my body for the past six years, so now it’s time to scream with my mouth”. (although he can’t sing, his voice has a superb tone).
Keith is also known to be the loudest, but most nicest member of the group. He loves danger – already when he was little, he used to play with plugs – seeing how far he’d dare to push the plug in and touch the terminal on the other end (he never got a shock)… And he announced in the summer of 1998 that he’d be competing in the superbike race called the Clubman’s Race, racing at speeds up to 160mph.
What describes his personality the best are the lyrics of Firestarter, which he wrote about himself. Actually the first time he liked something he had done was when he first did Firestarter. “For the first time I’d liked something I’d done. Not just musically, but personally. I got home and I put it on and I thought: ‘I fuckin’like this,’ and I felt this massive wave of emotion…”
Some of his goals in life are to live out his ultimate sex experience (with a lot of chicks), have every part of his body pierced, and try all the hair colours.
Maxim. His real name is actually Keith “Keeti” Palmer (don’t ever call him Keith, he hates it!). He went to Jack Hunt secondary school in Peterborough. Maxim was often seen at soul all-dayers at Nottingham’s Rock City. Keeti was originally an MC for a London reggae group, who presumably sank without trace.
He began MC-ing at the age of 14, when he used to watch his brother (MC Starky Ban Tan) MC-ing also on the raggae scene.
Keeti has written tons of songs and lyrics, most of which have never been released.
In 1990, Maxim was founded by friend Ziggy, who was managing a rave act in Essex, which needed an MC for their live show. Since then, Maxim has developed his own distinct MC-ing style: short snappy lines directed toward getting the crowd going. It often difficult to interpret what he is actually saying, since it is mostly encoded in 100+ decibel screams. Maxim is the band’s voice. Though he performed the vocals on some Prodigy tracks, his real talent is shown in his way of boosting the live shows. With him, the live songs get a feel totally different from that of the album tracks.
The reason why he chose his alias (Maxim Reality) was that at that time the stuff (lyrics) he was writing ”was all about real-life”. ”I didn’t pick the name because I thought it sounded cool. It was because of a reason.”
Keeti is a really strange figure – for example sometimes he wears a green skirt (because it’s comfortable) and has gold braces over his teeth, just to mention a few of his crazes. Actually it’s a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde thing with him – he can completely transform his ”real” self into a ”monster” who likes to intimidate people… ”The transformation takes place gradually as I get changed. But it’s totally different personality.”
Maxim, according to his own words, has always been writing music. He has filled cassettes and cassettes with music, and written tons of lyrics, yet he didn’t disclose any of his works for a very long time. He has written tons of songs and lyrics, most of which have never been released. In fall 2000 he released his own hip-hop style solo album. Maxim is married and has a child called Kai, who was born in March
Rob Holliday
New gitarist from the summer of 2005
Alli Maclnnes
New Live guitarist Summer tour of 2001 to 2002
Leeroy Thornhill
Bandmember from the beginning till spring 2000
Gizz Butt (Janus Stark)
Bands ex live guitarist
Jim Davies
Ex live and studio guitarist
Kieron Pepper
Drummer for live shows and also played live guitar
Lance Riddler
Studio guitarist who played on Jilted
Simone Berryman
Vocalist on some Experience tracks
Phil Bent
Flute player on Voodoo People and 3 Kilos
Sharky
Original member plus the only female member
Ziggy
First Manager
Mike Champion
Current Manager