Moby

Moby is an American electronic musician. Moby's real name is Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965 in Harlem, New York City) - he takes his performing name from his relative Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick.

Music career

Arguably most famous among his peers for the track "Go," a progressive track using the string line from "Laura Palmer's Theme" from the TV show Twin Peaks, Moby is also well known for singles like "Porcelain", "South Side" with Gwen Stefani, "We Are All Made of Stars" and "Lift Me Up". Moby has released singles under the names Voodoo Child, Barracuda, UHF, The Brotherhood, DJ Cake, Lopez, and Brainstorm/Mindstorm.

Related Topics:
Progressive - TV - Twin Peaks - Gwen Stefani

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Several of his songs have also found their way into major motion pictures, most notably the ambient piece "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters," which was featured in the 1995 motion picture Heat. More recently, his song "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" was used both in the climax of the documentary film Peaceable Kingdom and in the trailer for Black Hawk Down. "Extreme Ways" was featured at the end of both The Bourne Identity and its sequel, The Bourne Supremacy. Indeed, in 1997 Moby released a compilation of tracks used in and inspired by the cinema called I Like to Score. His music was also used to great effect in Oliver Stone's 'Any Given Sunday'.

Related Topics:
Motion pictures - Ambient - 1995 - Heat - Black Hawk Down - The Bourne Identity - Sequel - The Bourne Supremacy - 1997 - Compilation - I Like to Score

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Moby plays keyboard, guitar, and bass guitar, and expresses mild irritation at the assumption that everything on his newer albums is a sample. He used to be in a punk band called the Vatican Commandos, but abandoned punk in 1989 for electronic music.

Related Topics:
Keyboard - Guitar - Bass guitar - Punk - Vatican Commandos - 1989 - Electronic music

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His first album for Elektra Records was Everything Is Wrong, which earned early critical praise and minor notoriety. He followed that up with a hard rock/electronic album called Animal Rights in 1996. In 1997, he released I Like to Score, a collection of music included in movies. Among those tracks was an updated version of the James Bond theme. However, both Animal Rights and I Like to Score were commercially unsuccessful and Moby and Elektra parted company.

Related Topics:
Elektra Records - Everything Is Wrong - Hard rock - Animal Rights - 1996 - 1997 - I Like to Score - James Bond theme

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After a decade's worth of music, Moby's breakthrough album was 1999's Play. Mainstream reviewers raved about his talents on the album (released on V2 Records) though some early fans were let down. The album has 18 tracks and was the first album in history to have all of its tracks commercially licensed: "Porcelain," for instance, appeared on a TV commercial for Bailey's Irish Cream and Nordstrom; "Find My Baby" was on a commercial for American Express featuring golfer Tiger Woods. The album's tracks eventually were accepted in various radio formats, but because of Play's extensive licensing, the album could have been financially successful even without radio play. In addition to fame garnered through its licensing, Play is also notable for its extensive sampling of old blues recordings collected by Alan Lomax. In a 2005 posting on his web site, Moby theorized that his eagerness to license his music is a result of "growing up in poverty." http://www.moby.com/node/5461

Related Topics:
1999 - Play - V2 Records - TV commercial - Bailey's Irish Cream - Nordstrom - American Express - Golf - Tiger Woods - Radio - Blues - Alan Lomax

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In 2001, Moby founded the . It was a popular touring rock festival that featured an eclectic range of musical genres. A second tour was organized for the following year.

Related Topics:
2001 - Rock festival

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In 2001 Moby also earned the ire of Eminem after calling his music misogynist and homophobic; Eminem later satirized Moby (among others) in "Without Me," calling him a "fag" and questioning his relevance with the claim, "Nobody listens to techno!" The two were in a confrontation at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, though Moby expresses respect for Eminem's musical talents.

Related Topics:
Eminem - Misogynist - Homophobic - Without Me - Fag - 2002 - MTV Video Music Awards

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In 2002, Moby briefly had a television show on MTV, Señor Moby's House of Music, which focused mostly on more obscure electronic music. Also in 2002, Moby released 18 (which, despite Eminem's claim that "nobody listens" to his music, became the number 1 album in the world shortly after its release), a techno album that had 18 tracks. The most popular song on the album was "We Are All Made of Stars". Moby says he wrote "We Are All Made of Stars" because of the September 11 Terrorist Attacks, which happened on his birthday (source: album 18-B Sides DVD).

Related Topics:
2002 - MTV - Señor Moby's House of Music - Electronic music - 18 - September 11 Terrorist Attacks

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Moby, a vegan non-denominational Christian and self-proclaimed simpleton (for his often sincere and idealistic political assessments), lives in New York City's Little Italy, where he's lived for a decade in a small apartment in a five-story building across the street from David Bowie. He owns a small restaurant and coffee shop called TeaNY, where he occasionally waits tables. He also organized the Little Idiot Collective, a group of artists that also includes cartoonist and musician James Kochalka.

Related Topics:
Vegan - Christian - New York City - Little Italy - Apartment - David Bowie - Restaurant - Coffee shop - TeaNY - Little Idiot Collective - James Kochalka

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In 2005 Moby released "Lift Me Up", a single from his album Hotel, which featured, in addition to numerous remixes, UK company's Digimpro software. The program allows users to remix the song - using any or all of the samples included - and save it as an mp3 file. Thus unlimited, personalized versions of the title track were possible. Digimpro had previously seen exposure with group Erasure's single Breathe, allowing users the same ability.

Related Topics:
2005 - UK - Mp3 - Erasure

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For certain dates on Moby's 2005 European tour, Liveherenow provided concert goers with CDs of the show 10 minutes after the show finished. Other Mute artists like Erasure and Client have previously used this company for similar reasons.

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