Calvin Curtis Whilby
a.k.a. Prodigal
Son was
born in St. Catherine, Jamaica, in 1976. He was raised
by his grandmother, a Godly woman who made sure he
grew up in the Christian church.
Accepting Christ at age five, he followed the Lord
until the age of 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
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
was 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 has been voted Best
Dressed Artiste by Buzz Magazine
and is the first and only Gospel artiste to sign on
as the new face of B Mobile church chat campaign.
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 albums to date
RADIKAL PRODIGAL, RECHARGE
and STILL STANDING
on his label Radikal
Records his fourth album which features
work with International artistes Micah Stampley
and Junior Tucker is highly anticipated.
Married to his wife Joan for seven years, the couple
has three children, they are the founders & Presidents
of Radikal Communications
an Entertainment Promotion & Artiste Management
Company which comprise Radikal Records.