Moby

Moby, born Richard Melville Hall on September 11, 1965, is an American musician, songwriter, DJ, producer, and animal rights activist whose 1999 album Play became a global success, selling 12 million copies. Raised in Harlem, he began playing guitar and piano at nine and spent the 1980s in underground punk bands including Vatican Commandos, Flipper, and Ultra Vivid Scene before shifting toward electronic dance music.

After moving to New York City in 1989, Moby became a prolific DJ, producer, and remixer. His 1991 single “Go” brought his mainstream breakthrough, reaching the top ten in both the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Between 1992 and 1997, he earned eight top ten hits on Billboard’s Dance Club Songs chart, among them “Move (You Make Me Feel So Good),” “Feeling So Real,” and “James Bond Theme (Moby Re-Version).” He also recorded under a range of pseudonyms during the decade. Everything Is Wrong (1995) drew critical acclaim, while the punk-focused Animal Rights (1996) alienated much of his fan base.

Play initially received little recognition but surged in 2000, becoming the defining commercial release of his career. Its seventh single, “South Side,” featuring Gwen Stefani, reached No. 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Moby followed it with albums spanning electronic, dance, rock, and downtempo music, including 18 (2002), Hotel (2005), Last Night (2008), Wait for Me (2009), Destroyed (2011), and Innocents (2013). He later returned to punk-oriented work with The Void Pacific Choir on These Systems Are Failing (2016) and More Fast Songs About the Apocalypse (2017), followed by Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt (2018) and All Visible Objects (2020).

Following a 2018 performance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Moby recorded Reprise for Deutsche Grammophon. Made with the Budapest Art Orchestra, the 2021 album reworked songs from his catalogue with new vocalists and charted in 16 countries. Its follow-up, Resound NYC (2023), continued that approach. His ambient releases include the nearly four-hour Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep. (2016), Long Ambients 2 (2019), Live Ambients – Improvised Recordings Vol. 1 (2020), and Ambient 23 (2023), alongside the collaborative Always Centered at Night (2024).

Outside music, Moby is known for veganism and support for animal rights and humanitarian aid. He founded Little Walnut Productions in 2020 to support creative activism in film, television, and theater. He has written four books, including the photography collection and memoirs Porcelain: A Memoir (2016) and Then It Fell Apart (2019).