Moby - Biography
Moby, born Richard Melville Hall, is an American singer-songwriter, musician, DJ, photographer, and noted vegan. He has released eleven studio albums to date and sold 20 million albums worldwide; he has performed around the world at music festivals including Glastonbury, Coachella, and his own Area:One Festival; and he has produced, co-written or remixed songs for Public Enemy, Britney Spears, Michael Jackson, Brian Eno and many others.
Born in New York City but raised in Connecticut, Moby played in hardcore and post-punk bands during the '80s. He signed with Instinct Records in 1989 and his second single, "Go," a house track, was his first breakthrough, reaching the Top Ten in the UK and leading to a performance on Top of the Pops in 1991. In 1993, Moby signed with British label Mute Records, releasing the Move EP that same year and a full-length, Everything Is Wrong, in 1995. The "Move" single reached number one on the US Billboard Hot Dance Music chart and number 27 on the UK singles chart. The full-length was named by Spin Magazine "Album of the Year." In 1996, Moby decided to venture away from electronic music with the release of his fourth album, Animal Rights (Mute). The punk/hardcore sound on the album was initially pooly received, but he toured with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Soundgarden in Europe in support of the album, and the album has since gone on to be more favorably reviewed.
In 1999, Moby released his fifth album, Play (V2 Records), an album that relaunched his career in a major way. Play has sold over 12 million copies to date and holds the distinction of being the first album to license every single track for commercial use. His next album, 18 (V2 Records, 2002), which featured guest appearances by Azure Ray, MC Lyte, Angie Stone, and Sinéad O'Connor, sold over five million copies worldwide and peaked at number four on the Billboard 200. On his seventh studio album, Hotel (Pacha), Moby again moved away from the electronic and dance driven sounds of his previous efforts and recorded a more rock-based album. Despite receiving mixed reviews, Hotel included two of his biggest European singles, "Lift Me Up" and "Slipping Away." Moby's eighth and ninth studio albums, Last Night (Mute, 2008) and Wait For Me (Mute 2009) respectively, were both recorded in his home studio in New York City. His next album, Destroyed (Mute, 2011), was accompanied by a book of photography with the same name.
Moby's latest release is Innocents (Mute, 2013), his eleventh studio album. Recorded in his home studio in Los Angeles, where he moved a few years prior, it was his first time working with an outside producer, Mark “Spike” Stent, and features collaborations with Wayne Coyne, Mark Lanegan, Skylar Grey, Damien Jurado and others.
