Maxim (The Prodigy)

Keith Palmer (born 21 March, 1967, in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England), best known as Maxim is a Vocalist/MC of the British electronic band The Prodigy. He is known for his fierce style of appearance in both music videos and live shows, often wearing coloured contact lenses and kilts. His fierce style is also vibrant in the lyrical sense; in live shows he is known to scream and shout to hype up the audience.He is married and has two sons and a daughter.

Pre-Prodigy history

Maxim was born in Peterborough, the youngest of seven children, and he went to the Jack Hunt secondary school, also in Peterborough. He enjoyed writing poetry and verse and began MC-ing around the age of 14. He gained inspiration from his ten year older MC brother, Hitman, who introduced him into the Peterborough Reggae Soundsystem Scene. At the age of seventeen he had his first gig in Basingstoke. Ian Sherman, a fellow musician from Nottingham teamed up with Maxim and they formed "Maxim and Sheik Yan Groove", where Sherman made the music and Maxim contributed with lyrics. After recording some tracks together and not getting any attention from the record industries, Maxim decided to disband and went on a three month travel throughout Europe and North Africa. Upon returning to England he moved to London to get more into the music and reggae scene of the metropol. Through a friend, Ziggy, he was offered a gig with a band called "The Prodigy", which he accepted. He was planning to do just a few gigs with the band, but he later decided to stay. His maniac appearance and intense performance made him popular in the rave scene.

MC of The Prodigy

Originally joined The Prodigy on their first ever show to make the live shows become more alive, Maxim's lyrical talents were later incorporated in the studio works of the albums after "Experience" from 1992 (although his vocal contributions were heard in the live track "Death of the Prodigy Dancers" on "Experience"). Maxim provided lyrics in the single "Poison" from "Music For the Jilted Generation" ("1994"), as well as in the hit single "Breathe" from "The Fat of the Land" ("1997"). However, on the Prodigy album "Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned" from 2004, his vocal works were completely absent, apart from an appearance on the album's first single "Girls" in form of a remix called "More girls". He is still a full member of the band, though, performing in the live shows and, according to their official web site, recording material with Liam Howlett.

olo projects

Due to the almost constant touring and recording with "The Prodigy", Maxim rarely had a chance to make his own solo material. After the band started to take it more easy after the intense touring to support "The Fat of the Land" in late 1998, he finally had the spare time to work and finish some of his projects. That year he released "Dog Day" on the XL promo "Against the Grain", which also featured Howlett's "Dirtchamber Remix" of "Diesel Power" (from "The Fat of the Land") and Maxim's cover version of the Rolling Stones' "Factory Girl". On 9 August 1999 Maxim released the EP "My Web", which contained five tracks. In 2000 Maxim had a collaboration with Skin from Skunk Anansie on the song "Carmen Queasy", which remains his biggest solo success. A second single, "Scheming", was released September 11, and finally the full-length album "Hell's Kitchen", was released on 2 October 2000. He is currently working on a new album with producer Machine [http://www.themachineshop.org/discography.html] .

Discography

Albums

*2000 "Hell's Kitchen" (released 2 October)
*2005 "Fallen Angel" (released 29 March)

ingles and EPs

*1994 "Grim Reaper EP" (only 500 copies made; white label)
*1999 "My Web" (released 9 August)
*2000 "Carmen Queasy" (released 29 May)
*2000 "Scheming" (released 11 September)

External links

* [http://www.urbankillah.com/maxim/ A web page dedicated to Maxim]
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