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| Prodigal Son Country : Jamaica # Albums: : 3 Info: [ show or hide ] Calvin Curtis Whilby a.k.a. Prodigal Son was born in St. Catherine, Jamaica. He
was raised by his grandmother, a Godly woman who made sure he grew up in the
Christian church. Accepting Christ at age five (5) he followed the Lord until
the age of thirteen (13), unfortunately his grandmother died. This was the
turning point for Calvin who moved to Kingston and found residence in the cold
suburb of the community called Rema, one of the toughest innercities in the
Caribbean. Calvin rebelled from his Christian upbringing and against God
choosing the lifestyle of Gang and gun violence. Surrounded by negative
influences, this rebellious ghetto teenager found protection and family in his
gang, called Fatherless Crew the same would later be called Lock the City Crew.
He gave up his guns and girls and accepted Christ. Similar to the parable of the
Prodigal Son, Calvin returned home to his spiritual Father, what was once lost
had now been found. As he humbled himself before the Father and asked for
forgiveness, he surrendered all to Jesus. Like any love story, the Prodigal Son
got baptized on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14, 1998 and has never looked back.
Inspired by the parallels in his life, he copped the name Prodigal Son and
although he had no previous secular experience in music, he soon realized he was
blessed with a gift he decided to use it for the glory of God. He was introduced
to fame producer Danny Brownie who soon became both mentor and friend Brownie
guided Prodigal through his musical career and continues to his ministry
partner. Prodigal has performed at sold out venues spanning crowds as huge as
150,000, at events such as Antiguan Governmental Celebrations (Caribbean),
International Reggae Festival of Life (Chicago, USA) Fun in the Sun, Recharge,
and Sting (Jamaica), France World Cup Qualifier Match (Jamaica vs. Mexico) Air
Jamaica sponsored UK Tour, Israel & New Breed Tour (Jacksonville, USA) and
many other International events, he has shared stages with renowned Gospel
Artistes, Fred Hammond, Donnie McClurkin, CeCe Wynans, Jackie McCullough, Tobi
Mac, Mary Mary, Israel Houghton & New Breed, Martha Munizzi, Kirk Franklyn,
Yolanda Adams and mainstream artistes such as: Shaggy, Junior Gong, Beenie Man,
Bounti Killa, Destiny’s Child, Jermaine Jackson, Maxi Priest, Regina Belle,
Calypso Rose, Barrington Levy, Luciano, Jimmy Cliff and more. Prodigal Son has
gained the respect of both fans & critics and is one of the only Jamaican
gospel Artiste who is appreciated in both the Christian arena and
mainstream/secular and as such was the only Gospel Artiste that appeared on the
2006 BMobile ‘No Violence’ school tour in Jamaica, he has subsequently, received
several mainstream awards including: Jamaica Federation of Musicians, best new
gospel artiste for 2001, the Xnews award, artist of the year 2001, Jamaica
Federation of Musicians best male gospel vocalist 2002 and Irie FM’s Gospel
Artiste of the year (‘06), other accolades are Marlin Awards for Outstanding
Reggae Recording of the year and Outstanding DJ Vocal Performance of the year
for the year 2003,Marlin award for Best Dancehall Recording for 2004, U.S. Urban
Gospel Award, best Producer 2005, Urban Gospel Award best Caribbean Artiste,
Canadian Maja Award album of the year 2006, he has copped and maintain numerous
number one (1) spots on charts like UK’s United by 1, Love 101 FM Jamaica, Flow
FM Canada, Mystic 98, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and UK’s Soulcare. Prodigal was
interviewed and featured on the US network CBS on the 700 club programme
‘Turning Point’ where he shared his life changing testimony, to date he is the
first gospel artiste to be interviewed by WLIB radio station in New York. His
debut album Radikal Prodigal produced by Danny Brownie featured crossover hits I
Wish, Woe and Radikal Style, all three songs were the first dancehall gospel
songs to be played on mainstream radio in Jamaica such as RJR, Irie FM and Hot
102. His second album Still Standing which was self-produced was voted best
gospel album of 2005 by Love 101 and track ..10, Journey voted song of the year,
a second song Track .. 5 Still Standing is nominated by the International Reggae
& World Music Award as best gospel song. His newest singles, ‘Unite’
featuring Wayne Marshall and Gully People Cry’ are already creating major waves
Gully People debut at ..5 on CVM TV’s hitlist and both receive heavy rotation on
radio disc jockey, Richie B’s Hot 102 programme also on Big A, DJ Sunshine and
Ron Muschettes programmes on Irie FM . Prodigal recently received 4 Reggae
Academy awards, Irie FM gospel artiste of the year again, Youth View award, Best
gospel Artiste 2 MGA awards. Prodigal Son is an ordained Pastor, Producer,
Mentor, Entrepreneur, and Gospel Artiste. Every year he host a FREE one day
youth festival called Recharge to give back to the Jamaican people, he also
supports several charities islandwide, he is involved in Prison Ministry.
Prodigal has worked on several projects such as Danny Brownie’s YOW series,
Christafari’s compilation series, Chevelle Franlyn’s Joy, Junior Tucker’s
Rapture, Carlene Davis, among others, He has released three (3) albums to date
RADIKAL PRODIGAL, RECHARGE and STILL STANDING on his label Radikal Records his
fourth album a double CD featuring International artistes, Micah Stampley and
Junior Tucker is creating many waves locally & internationally and has
already received as noted many accolades. Married to his wife Joan for seven (7)
years, whom he describes as a tower of strength, the couple has three (3)
children, they are founders & President of Radikal Communications an
Entertainment Promotion & Artiste Management Company which comprise Radikal
Records. The company books for artistes: Ryan Berry, Shepherd, and manages
Murphy and Prodigal himself.
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