Moby is the professional name of Richard Melville Hall, an electronic musician, songwriter and animal rights activist from Harlem, United States. Born in 1965, he works across ambient, ambient techno, downtempo, electronic, electronica and house.

Career

He learns guitar and piano at the age of nine, then plays in underground punk rock bands during the 1980s, including Vatican Commandos, Flipper and Ultra Vivid Scene, before moving into electronic dance music. In 1989 he moves to New York City and becomes active as a DJ, producer and remixer.

His breakthrough single is “Go” in 1991, which becomes a major hit in Europe and reaches the top ten in several countries, including the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Between 1992 and 1997, he places eight singles in the Billboard Dance Club Songs top ten, including “Move (You Make Me Feel So Good)”, “Feeling So Real” and “James Bond Theme (Moby Re-Version)”. During this period he also issues music under various pseudonyms and releases Everything Is Wrong in 1995.

Animal Rights follows in 1996 and draws more strongly on punk influences. His fifth studio album, Play (1999), becomes his best-selling record, with around 12 million copies sold worldwide, and later gains much wider international success in 2000. “South Side”, featuring Gwen Stefani, reaches number 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100. After Play, he releases albums that move between electronic, rock and downtempo material, including 18, Hotel, Last Night, Wait for Me, Destroyed and Innocents.

Later work and collaborations

He later returns to punk-influenced material with The Void Pacific Choir, releasing These Systems Are Failing and More Fast Songs About the Apocalypse. He also releases the more melodic albums Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt and All Visible Objects.

After performing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 2018, he is invited by Deutsche Grammophon to record an orchestral album. Reprise reworks earlier material with new vocalists and is recorded with the Budapest Art Orchestra. It becomes his highest-charting album in more than a decade. Its follow-up, Resound NYC, continues the same approach with further reinterpretations and collaborations.

Alongside these releases, he produces ambient works including Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep., Long Ambients 2, Live Ambients – Improvised Recordings Vol. 1 and Ambient 23. He also releases the collaborative project Always Centered at Night.

Other activity

Moby is known for advocacy of veganism, animal rights and humanitarian causes. In 2020, he founds Little Walnut Productions, a company focused on creative activism across film, television and theatre. He also writes several books, including the memoirs Porcelain: A Memoir and Then It Fell Apart.

Labels and projects

His releases are associated with Little Idiot, Little Idiot Music, always centered at night and LMNO Music. He is also linked with Diamondsnake and The Void Pacific Choir as named projects.