Moby

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{{infobox band | band_name = Moby | image = Image:Moby.jpg | caption = | years_active = 1993 – present | origin = Harlem, New York, USA | country = | music_genre = Electronica | record_label = V2 Records | current_members = 'Richard Melville Hall' | past_members = }}

Moby (born Richard Melville Hall on September 11, 1965 in Darien, Connecticut) is an American electronic musician and tea house entrepreneur. Moby takes his performing name from his relative Herman Melville, author of Moby Dick.

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Music career

Arguably, he is most famous among his peers for the song "Go," a progressive track using the string line from "Laura Palmer's Theme" from the TV drama 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 and albums under the names Voodoo Child, Barracuda, UHF, The Brotherhood, DJ Cake, Lopez, and Brainstorm/Mindstorm.

Several of his songs have also found their way into major motion pictures, television shows and commercials.

The ambient piece "God Moving Over the Face of the Waters," was featured in:

"Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" was used in:

"Extreme Ways" was featured in:

"Honey" was featured in:

"When It's Cold I'd Like To Die" was featured in:

  • The final scene and end credits of Episode 67 of the HBO Orginal Series The Sopranos ("Join The Club")

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.

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.

His first album "The Story So Far (aka Moby)" featured the single "Go", which gained popularity in many discos, and earned a spot on the UK charts. The song is so popular that Moby still plays "Go" regularly in his sets.

His first album for Elektra Records was Everything Is Wrong, which earned early critical praise and minor commercial success. 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 used for the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. However, both Animal Rights and I Like to Score were commercially unsuccessful and Moby and Elektra parted company.

Image:Moby@NASA REWIND 4-3-04 28.JPG 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 TV commercials for Bailey's Irish Cream, Hong Kong's PCCW and Nordstrom, and Volkswagen's MKIV Jetta; "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." [1]

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

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." Moby replied that he hadn't played techno since 1992. The two were in a confrontation at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, though Moby expresses respect for Eminem as an artist.

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, 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).

Moby is a vegan, non-denominational Christian and self-proclaimed "simpleton" (for his often sincere and idealistic political assessments). He has expressed pro-choice views. Moby 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.

In 2005 Moby released "Lift Me Up", a single from his album Hotel, which featured, in addition to numerous remixes, UK company Digimpro's 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. Instead of his usual usage of samples, all of the vocals and instruments on "Hotel" were performed live in the studio by Moby and vocalist Laura Dawn, who is the Cultural Director of MoveOn.org.

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 Records artists like Erasure and Client have previously used this company for similar reasons.

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Activism

Moby is well known advocate for a variety of progressive causes, working with MoveOn.org, and PETA, among others. He created MoveOn Voter Fund's "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest along with singer Laura Dawn and MoveOn Executive Director Eli Pariser.

He also actively engages in nonpartisan activism. He has performed benefit concerts for the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function [2], promoting music therapy. Moby also serves on the Board of Directors of Amend.org [3], a nonprofit that implements injury prevention programs in Africa.

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Political quotes

Template:Wikiquote

  • "One simple word: ugh. Is something still considered a conspiracy if it's played out right under our noses?"
  • "It will be interesting to see what the long term fruits of our national apathy will be, 'cause so far they've been pretty foul."
  • "I'm actually kind of impressed by Iraq's patience right now...I mean, look at it objectively. They've opened their doors to UN inspectors, they're being bombed by British and American troops, American forces are massing at their borders, American diplomats are actively looking to assassinate Saddam Hussein, etc." [4]
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Area Festival

Founded in 2001, the Area Festival was a creation by Moby inspired by Lollapalooza and featured diverse genres of music. The music festival is currently on indefinite hiatus.

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Area:One

This concert in 2001 featured:

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Area2

This concert in 2002 featured:

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Discography

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Albums

Image:MobyHotel.jpg

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Official albums

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Limited edition bonus discs

Image:Moby18album.jpg

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Pseudonyms

  • Instinct Dance (Instinct 1991)
    • Moby/Barracuda/Brainstorm/Voodoo Child
  • The End of Everything (Mute 1996)
    • Voodoo Child
  • Sugar Baby (Trophy 1996)
    • DJ Cake
  • Baby Monkey (Mute 2004)
    • Voodoo Child
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Compilations

  • Early Underground (Instinct 1993)
  • Rare: The Collected B-Sides 1989-1993 (Instinct 1996)
  • Everything Is Wrong - DJ Mix Album (Mute 1996)
  • I Like to Score (Mute 1997)
  • MobySongs: 1993-98 (Elektra 2000)
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Singles

  • 1991 "Go" #10 UK
  • 1993 "I Feel It / Thousand" #38 UK
  • 1993 "Move" #21 UK
  • 1994 "Hymn" #31 UK
  • 1994 "Feeling So Real" #30 UK
  • 1995 "Everytime You Touch Me" #28 UK
  • 1995 "Into the Blue" #34 UK
  • 1996 "Bring Back My Happiness" (Feb 1996)
  • 1996 "That's When I Reach For My Revolver" (26 August 1996) #50 UK
  • 1996 "Come On Baby" (4 November 1996)
  • 1997 "James Bond Theme (Moby's Re-Version)" #8 UK
  • 1998 "Honey" #33 UK
  • 1999 "Run On" #33 UK
  • 1999 "Bodyrock" #38 UK
  • 1999 "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad" #16 UK
  • 2000 "Natural Blues" #11 UK
  • 2000 "Porcelain" #5 UK
  • 2000 "South Side" (featuring Gwen Stefani) #14 US
  • 2000 "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad / Honey (Remix feat. Kelis)" #17 UK
  • 2002 "We Are All Made of Stars" (UK) #11 UK
  • 2002 "Extreme Ways" (UK) #39 UK
  • 2002 "In This World" (UK) #35 UK
  • 2003 "Sunday (The Day Before My Birthday)" (UK)
  • 2003 "Jam For The Ladies" (UK)
  • 2005 "Lift Me Up" (UK, 28 February 2005) #18 UK
  • 2005 "Raining Again" (Europe, 23 May 2005; Australia, 6 June 2005) #52 Australia
  • 2005 "Spiders" (UK, 30 May 2005) #50 UK
  • 2005 "Beautiful" (Europe, 12 September 2005)
  • 2005 "Dream About Me" (UK, 8 August 2005)
  • 2006 "Slipping Away" (UK, 23 January 2006) #53 UK
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teany

Moby was the co-owner of a New York tea house and restaurant called teany, until recently when he gave full ownership to Kelly, his ex-girlfriend. The tea house is situated at 90 Rivington St, NYC, NY 10002; whilst their Iced tea and green tea blends are available in 16 fl oz (473 ml) bottles through out the world (including an exclusive deal with the Suburb (café bar) chain in Manchester and London England).

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See also

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Biographies

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External links

de:Moby es:Moby fr:Moby is:Moby he:מובי ka:მობი nl:Moby ja:モービー pl:Moby sk:Moby fi:Moby sv:Moby

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