The Osmonds

Today their sound is more country & western, with a bit of rock, and adult contemporary thrown in. See also: 1991 in music, 1993 in music, 1996 in music, 1999 in music. Wayne and Merrill continue to perform as The Osmond Brothers, with an occasional appearance by Jay. From their initial inception as a tripped out hardcore rave band with scene classics such as Your Love and Out of Space, to the much more mainstream dance of No Good, to the rockish Their Law to punk-like tracks such as Fuel my Fire in more recent years, the Prodigy continue to innovate and surprise. Alan's eight sons occasionally perform as "The Osmonds - Second Generation". Each of their albums represents a distinct stage in the band's musical evolution. All of the brothers are married with large families themselves. The Prodigy are a difficult band to classify, because they have evolved significantly with time.

The brothers are also well known as devout members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and are particularly strong on family values. The experiment was a success, with the 5,000 copies being sold in just over 36 hours in spite of server problems from the demand. There are also two older brothers, Virl and Tom, who were born deaf. Five mixes were sold in three file formats, WAV, two audio mixes in MP3, and a 5.1 DTS Multichannel audio mix and all were free of Digital rights management. Donny and Marie also performed as a duo hosted their own variety show,"The Donny and Marie Show", on the ABC network in the seventies. Each copy was a combination of customer-chosen instrumental, rhythmic, and melodic options, of which 39,600 (of 660,000 total) choices were available. Donny, and to a lesser extent, Jimmy, both achieved success as solo artists, as did their one sister, Marie Osmond (born October 13, 1959). 5,000 digital copies of Memphis Bells were sold over the internet.

They were joined for a time by younger brothers Donny Osmond, (born December 9, 1957) and subsequently "Little" Jimmy Osmond, (born April 16, 1963). A precursory and experimental single Memphis Bells was released in very limited numbers, followed by the traditional release of the single Girls. They were so successful that a new word, "Osmania" was coined to describe the phenomenon. The Prodigy's latest album, Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned was released on 23 August 2004 (14 September 2004 in the USA). One of their first major hits, "Crazy Horses", could be described as rock, but they followed it with gentler, more sentimental songs such as "Let Me In" and "Love Me For a Reason." This music, combined with the brothers' good looks and clean image, greatly appealed to the teenybopper market. In the same year, however, Q magazine named The Prodigy as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die". The Osmonds career started with a big break at Disneyland, followed quickly by regular appearances on "The Andy Williams Show" in the early sixties, but their most successful period was the seventies, when they achieved a string of chart hits. The single was produced by Liam Howlett.

The group originally comprised brothers Alan Ralph Osmond (born June 22, 1949), Melvin Wayne Osmond (known as Wayne) (born August 28, 1951), Merrill Davis Osmond (born April 30, 1953), and Jay Wesley Osmond (born March 2, 1955). The song was written by Keith Flint's sideband, Flint, and also featured Jim Davies. The Osmonds are an American family pop group who achieved enormous worldwide success as teenybopper idols in the 1970s. In 2002, after a break from touring and recording, the single Baby's Got a Temper was released to critical disappointment. I Can't Live a Dream (October 1976). This album was not strictly speaking a Prodigy album, being a DJ mix album by Howlett, produced as an official record of a successful guest appearance on the British Radio 1. I'm Still Gonna Need You (November 1975). 1999 saw the release of Dirtchamber Sessions Volume 1.

The Proud One (May 1975). The best selling single Breathe, also released in 1997, was taken from this album. Having a Party (March 1975). Featuring simplified melodies, sparser sampling, and more sneering, punk-like vocals, the album nevertheless retained the bone-jarring breaks and buzzsaw synth so idiomatic of the band. Perfectly poised between underground acceptability and mainstream acceptance, the album cemented the band's position as one of the most internationally successful and famous acts in the hard dance genre, entering the British and American charts at number one. Love Me For a Reason (August 1974). Like its predecessors, the album represented a new milestone in the evolution of both the band and the wider mainstream dance scene. I Can't Stop (April 1974). The third Prodigy album, The Fat of the Land, was released in 1997.

Let Me In (October 1973). The Prodigy have toured all over the world, including Beirut and Moscow's Red Square. Goin' Home (July 1973). In this year the Prodigy also headlined the prestigious Lollapalooza festival. Crazy Horses (November 1972). The 1996 release of Firestarter, featuring vocals for the first time courtesy of a new-look Keith Flint, helped the band break into the US and other overseas markets, and reached number one in the UK. Down By The Lazy River (March 1972). The band augmented their live line-up with guitarist Jim Davies in 1995 for tracks such as Their Law, Break And Enter 95, and various live-only interludes and versions.

One Bad Apple (March 1970). The international success of Music for the Jilted Generation meant that touring beyond the United Kingdom was now a viable prospect. Musically, the album was a call to arms for electronic breakbeat-based music, a tour-de-force of originality that provided a tantalising and impelling glimpse of what was still possible within the genre. Nominated for the Mercury Music Prize, the album perfectly captured the widespread anger and embitterment among British rave-goers at the time, as the Criminal Justice and Public Order act of 1994 had effectively criminalised raves, rave culture, and by implication, rave music itself. The Prodigy moved to distance themselves from the imploding rave scene with 1994's Music for the Jilted Generation.

Charly was quickly followed by the band's first full length album, The Prodigy Experience, widely regarded as one of the finest examples of the rave/breakbeat genre ever recorded. Some critics were later to identify the release of Charly, with its memorable sample of a government television infomercial aimed at children, as the tune that instigated the ultimate destruction of the underground rave scene, opening the door to a flood of low quality cheesy rave tracks, most notoriously Urban Hype's ultra-saccharine Trip to Trumpton, and Smart E's Sesame's Treet, a reworking of the theme tune of the popular children's TV show Sesame Street. Charly, released 6 months later, was a huge hit in the British rave scene of the time, catapulting the band into the wider public consciousness for the first time. The band's first performance was at Four Aces in Hackney, London.

XL Recordings picked up the demo and an initial 12" pressing of What Evil Lurks was released in early 1991. Formed in Essex, England, the Prodigy started life with an initial 10-track demo by Howlett, put together on a Roland W-30 sequencer keyboard. A female dancer called Sharky was also briefly associated with the band during their brief unsigned period. Leeroy Thornhill (Dancer) was also a member of the band from 1990 to 2000.

The Prodigy is a British hard dance/rave act, consisting of Liam Howlett (Keyboards), Keith Flint (Dancer/Vocalist) and Maxim (Live MC). 2004 "Hotride" #60 UK (Non-chart qualifying). 2004 "Girls" #19 UK. 2004 "Girls" / "Memphis Bells".

2002 "Baby Got a Temper" #5 UK. 1997 "Smack My Bitch Up" #8 UK. 1996 "Breathe" #1 UK. 1996 "Firestarter" #1 UK, #30 US.

1995 "Poison" #15 UK. 1994 "Voodoo People" #13 UK. 1994 "No Good (Start the Dance)" #4 UK. 1993 "One Love" #8 UK.

1993 "Wind It Up (Rewound)" #11 UK. 1992 "Out of Space/Ruff in the Jungle Bizness" #5 UK. 1992 "Fire/Jericho" #11 UK. 1992 "Everybody in the Place" #2 UK.

1991 "Charly" #3 UK (#73 Re-release in 2004 along with Pandemonium / Your Love). 2004 Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned #1 UK, #62 US. 1997 The Fat of the Land #1 UK, #1 US. 1995 Music for the Jilted Generation #1 UK, #198 US.

1992 Experience #12 UK. Gizz Butt (Guitarist). Jim Davies (Guitarist). Kieron Pepper (Drummer).

Sharky (Dancer) (Left in early 1990s). Leeroy Thornhill (Dancer) (Left 4 April 2000). Maxim (MC). Keith Flint (Vocalist, dancer).

Liam Howlett (Keyboards).