Liam Howlett is best known as the mastermind behind the Prodigy, the British techno group that made waves with the controversial song and video for "Smack My Bitch Up" (RealAudio excerpt).

Earlier this year, the writer/producer/musician released his solo DJ-mix album, The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One, which included samples from such artists as Public Enemy, Meat Beat Manifesto, the Chemical Brothers and the Ultramagnetic MCs.

Liam Paris Howlett was born 28 years ago today in Essex, England. He played the piano as a child and grew to love hip-hop music in the mid-'80s. He also became a break-dancer.

Howlett was the DJ for the British rap group Cut to Kill, after which he began producing acid-house tracks in his bedroom studio. His debut release, the EP What Evil Lurks, became popular on the British rave scene in 1990. During this period, Howlett met vocalist/dancer Keith Flint and dancer Leeroy Thornhill, with whom he formed Prodigy.

The band signed with XL Records, which reissued What Evil Lurks in 1991. Howlett's "Charly" soon topped the British dance chart and became a top-5 pop hit as well. Prodigy also scored in the UK with "Everybody in the Place" and "Fire/Jericho."

The Prodigy Experience (1992) was one of the first LPs by a rave act. The UK top-10 album won acclaim for blending break-beats with samples from famous dubber Lee "Scratch" Perry and '60s theatrical-rock group the Crazy World of Arthur Brown.

Ragga/hip-hop MC Maxim Reality, a.k.a. Keeti Palmer, joined Prodigy in 1993, the same year the group marked their seventh consecutive top-20 single, "One Love." Howlett also remixed other acts, including Front 242, the Art of Noise, and Jesus Jones.

The UK chart-topping Music for the Jilted Generation, featuring "No Good (Start the Dance)" and "Voodoo People," was the band's first record to add guitars to Prodigy's traditional break-beat drum & bass, a suddenly hot style.

Prodigy spent a good deal of the mid-'90s proving that a talented electronica act could tour excitingly and profitably. The group's reputation as an effective live act was sealed with its performance at the 1995 Glastonbury Festival. In particular, Flint made a mark with his rowdy, punk-MC antics.

"Firestarter," featuring Flint, entered the British chart at #1. Its airplay on MTV set the stage for American music fans' embrace of electronica. The Fat of the Land entered the charts at #1 on both sides of the Atlantic, making Prodigy the first techno band to achieve such overwhelming success.

Prodigy became notorious in the U.S. for the album's "Smack My Bitch Up," which offended feminists. The song's video depicted an out-of-control hooligan (who turns out to be a woman) grabbing women, getting into fights, and having sex with a stripper, as well as using drugs and vomiting repeatedly. The track also caused some distributors to remove the LP from stock.

Flint said: "Look, at the end of the day, we do what we do because it suits us. Don't you think it's kind of cool to have a band that offends MTV, that puts out a video that real fans have to dig around for, or stay up late to see. The point is to be true to yourself — otherwise you may as well give up."

This year Howlett toured with Prodigy in South Africa and Eastern Europe, and began work on a soundtrack to the porno movie "The Uranus Experiment." He also worked with Jamiroquai on the track "Supersonic" from their album Synkronized.

Other birthdays: Kenny Rogers, 61; Jackie DeShannon, 55; Carl Giammarese (Buckinghams), 52; Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple), 47; Joe Strummer (Clash), 47; Steve Smith (Journey), 45; Budgie (Siouxsie & The Banshees), 42; and Kim Sledge (Sister Sledge), 41.