126 Facts About Moby

Moby's punk-oriented album Animal Rights alienated much of his fan base.

Moby found commercial and critical success with his fifth album Play which, after receiving little recognition, became an unexpected global hit in 2000 after each track was licensed to films, television shows, and commercials.

Moby followed Play with albums of varied styles including electronic, dance, rock, and downtempo music, starting with 18, Hotel, and Last Night.

Moby continues to record and release albums; his nineteenth studio album, Reprise, was released in May 2021.

Moby was the owner of TeaNY, a vegan cafe in Manhattan, and Little Pine, a vegan restaurant in Los Angeles, and organized the vegan music and food festival Circle V Moby is the author of four books, including a collection of his photography and two memoirs: Porcelain: A Memoir and Then It Fell Apart.

Moby is an only child of Elizabeth McBride, a medical secretary, and James Frederick Hall, a chemistry professor, who died in a car crash while drunk when Moby was two.

Moby's father gave him the nickname Moby three days after his birth as his parents considered the name Richard too large for a newborn baby.

Moby was raised by his mother, first in San Francisco from 1969 for a short period.

Moby's mother struggled to support her son, often relying on food stamps and government welfare.

Shortly before his mother's death in 1997, Moby learned from her that he has a half brother.

Moby started on classical guitar and received piano lessons from his mother before studying jazz, music theory, and percussion.

Around this time he was the lead vocalist for Flipper for two days; Moby played bass for their reunion shows in the 2000s.

Moby formed a post punk group named AWOL around the time of his eighteenth birthday.

Moby is credited on their only release, a self-titled EP, as Moby Hall.

In 1983, Moby graduated from Darien High School and started a philosophy degree at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, Connecticut.

Moby spun records at the campus radio station WHUS, which led to DJ work in local clubs and bars.

Moby grew increasingly unhappy at university and transferred to State University of New York at Purchase, studying philosophy and photography, to try and renew his interest in studying.

Moby dropped out in April 1984 to pursue DJing and music full-time, which started his interest in electronic dance music.

Around 1988, Moby moved into a semi-abandoned factory in Stamford, Connecticut, that had no bathroom or running water, but the free electricity supply allowed him to work on his music, using a 4-track recorder, synthesizer, and drum machine.

In 1989, Moby relocated to New York City with his close friend, artist Damian Loeb.

In 1990, Moby joined Shopwell and played on their album Peanuts.

The success of "Go" led to increased demand for Moby to produce more music and to remix other artists' songs.

Moby often arranged for the artist and himself to trade remixes as opposed to being paid for his work, which was the case for his mixes for Billy Corgan and Soundgarden.

Instinct refused, so Moby retaliated by holding out on new material.

In 1992, Moby completed his first US tour as the opening act for The Shamen.

In mid-1992, Moby estimated that he had earned between $8,000 to $11,000 a year for the past six years.

Moby expressed disagreements over the way Instinct had packaged and handled his music.

Moby was eventually released after he paid the label $10,000.

In 1993, Moby signed with Elektra Records which lasted for five years.

Moby secured a deal with Mute Records, a British label, to handle his European distribution.

Moby attempted to make it in a professional studio, but he disliked the results and re-recorded it at home.

In 1993, Moby toured as the headlining act with Orbital and Aphex Twin.

Moby chose to include a variety of musical styles on the album that he either liked or had been influenced by, including electronic dance, ambient, rock, and industrial music.

Moby toured the album with some headline spots on the second stage at the 1995 Lollapalooza festival.

The success of Everything Is Wrong had Moby reach a new peak in critical acclaim.

Moby directed the music video for "Young Man's Stride" by Mercury Rev In 1995 and 1996, Moby put out a number of "self-indulgent dance" singles under the pseudonyms Lopez and DJ Cake on Trophy Records, his own Mute imprint, so he could release material that he was interested in without concern for its commercial impact.

In 1996, Moby contributed "Republican Party" to the AIDS benefit album Offbeat: A Red Hot Soundtrip produced by the Red Hot Organization and released his second Voodoo Child album, The End of Everything.

Moby pointed out that he had not abandoned his electronic music completely and had worked on dance and house mixes and film scores while making Animal Rights.

Moby returned to the genre after liking the house music that a friend and DJ had played at a party.

In October 1997, Moby displayed his range of music styles with the release of I Like to Score, a compilation of his film soundtrack work with some re-recorded tracks.

Late 1997 saw Moby start his first US tour in two years.

Moby felt Elektra did little to capitalise on the critical success of Everything Is Wrong, and that it was only interested in radio friendly hits.

Moby considered himself an artist that did not belong to a major label as his music did not fit with the genres that they promoted.

Moby took an interest in the songs and formed samples from various tracks which he used to base new tracks of his own.

Moby toured worldwide in support of the album which lasted 22 months.

The move was criticised and led to some to consider that Moby had become a sellout, but he later maintained that the licenses were granted mostly to independent films and non-profit projects, and agreed to them due to the difficulty of getting his music heard on the radio and television in the past.

In 2000, Moby contributed "Flower" to Gone in 60 Seconds.

Moby co-wrote "Is It Any Wonder" with Sophie Ellis-Bextor for her debut solo album, Read My Lips.

In 2001, Moby founded the Area:One Festival which toured the US and Canada across 17 shows that summer with a range of artists.

Moby started on the follow-up to Play in late 2000.

Moby toured extensively for both Play and 18, playing over 500 shows in the next four years.

In December 2002, during a tour stop at Paradise Rock Club in Boston, Moby was punched in the face and sprayed with mace by two or three assailants while signing autographs outside the venue.

In February 2002, Moby performed at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics.

Moby said that after it was used for the first, the producers originally sought a different artist for the second but they had too little time to secure someone, leading them to pick "Extreme Ways" for the entire series.

In 2003, Moby headlined the Glastonbury Festival on the final day.

Moby co-wrote and produced "Early Mornin'" for Britney Spears' album In the Zone released that year.

Moby returned to his dance and rave roots with the release of Baby Monkey, the third album under his Voodoo Child moniker, in 2004.

The album contains little use of samples, which Moby reasoned to using different audio recording software which had a sampling function that was too difficult to learn, "so it was me just being lazy".

Moby nonetheless said that Hotel is a more satisfying album as a result.

In 2013, Moby looked back on the album as his least favourite of his career, pointing out that it was the only one not recorded at his home studio.

In 2007, Moby started a rock band, The Little Death with his friends Laura Dawn, Daron Murphy, and Aaron A Brooks.

In 2007 Moby produced and performed on a remake of "The Bulrushes" by The Bongos that appeared on the special anniversary edition of the group's debut album Drums Along the Hudson, on Cooking Vinyl Records.

In 2008, Moby released Last Night, an electronic dance album inspired by a night out in his New York City neighborhood.

Moby wished for the follow-up to Last Night to be emotional, personal, and melodic.

Moby felt creatively inspired by a David Lynch speech at the BAFTA Award ceremony in the UK which prompted him to write new material that he liked with little regard to its mainstream commercial success.

Moby decided against recording in a professional studio as he wanted to record the entire album at home, and chose to have the album mixed using analogue equipment.

Moby held a user-generated content competition to have fans create a video for "Wait for Me", the last single from the album, which was to be used as the official video.

Moby raised over $75,000 from three shows in California to help those affected by domestic violence after funding for the state's domestic violence program had been cut.

An ambient version Wait for Me was released in late 2009 as Wait for Me: Ambient, which Moby did not produce.

In 2010, Moby enlisted vocalist Phil Costello as a songwriting partner for a new heavy metal band, Diamondsnake.

Moby contributed four songs to the soundtrack of The Next Three Days, including the single "Mistake".

In January 2010, Moby announced that he had started work on a new album.

Moby took to an online poll to decide the next single from Destroyed; the fans picked "Lie Down in Darkness".

Moby toured worldwide throughout 2013, completing acoustic and DJ sets at various concerts and festivals.

Moby's DJ set at Coachella was produced in collaboration with NASA with various images from space projected onto screens during the performance.

On Record Store Day in 2013, Moby released a 7-inch record, The Lonely Night, featuring Screaming Trees vocalist Mark Lanegan.

Moby had worked on the album for the previous 18 months and hired Spike Stent to produce it.

Moby used several guest vocalists on the album, and picked Neil Young and "Broken English" by Marianne Faithfull as the biggest influences to the musical style on the album.

Moby promoted the album with three shows at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles, following his decision to undergo little touring from 2014.

Six of Moby's songs are feature in Charlie Countryman.

Moby's music set the tone to Cathedrals of Culture, a 3D documentary film about the soul of buildings, directed by Wim Wenders.

In December 2014, Moby performed three shows of ambient music at the Masonic Lodge in Hollywood Forever Cemetery to support the release of Hotel: Ambient.

Moby then decided against the new wave album and opted for one made by himself and seven guest vocalists he named the Void Pacific Choir.

Moby announced his fifteenth studio album, Everything Was Beautiful, and Nothing Hurt, in December 2017.

In 2018, Moby was a guest performer on "A$AP Forever" by American rapper A$AP Rocky which samples "Porcelain".

Moby contributed several songs to the comedy Half Magic directed by Heather Graham.

In March 2019, Moby released a follow-up to his first long ambient album, Long Ambients 2.

In January 2020, Moby announced that his new studio album All Visible Objects will be released on May 15.

In May 2022, Moby released Reprise Remixes, featuring remixes of tracks from the Reprise from various artists, including Topic, Anfisa Letyago, Planningtorock, and Biscuits.

On June 1,2022, Moby launched his new record label, Always Centered at Night.

On January 1,2023, Moby released a two-and-a-half-hour ambient album Ambient 23.

Moby has collaborated live with many of his heroes while on tour or at fundraisers.

Moby has performed two duets with the French singer Mylene Farmer and produced seven songs on her eighth album, Bleu Noir, released on December 6,2010.

In 2013, Moby was responsible for the soundtrack of the documentary The Crash Reel, who tells the story of snowboarder Kevin Pearce.

Moby was one of the first musicians to have an episode on Netflix's new music documentary series titled Once In a Lifetime Sessions; where he records, discusses, and performs his music.

In May 2002, Moby launched a small raw and vegan restaurant and tea shop called TeaNY in New York City with his then girlfriend Kelly Tisdale.

In 2006, Moby said he had removed himself from any previous business projects.

In November 2015, Moby opened the Vegan restaurant Little Pine in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.

All profits are donated to animal welfare organizations; in May 2016, Moby estimated the year's donations at $250,000.

In December 2019, Moby launched the Little Pine lifestyle range of products and merchandise, with all profits donated to six charities.

Moby headlined the event for the second year with artists Waka Flocka Flame, Dreamcar and Raury featuring on the bill.

Moby then relocated to the Hollywood Hills area of Los Angeles, spending almost $4 million to purchase a castle known as Wolf's Lair, spending an additional $3.5 million to restore it.

In 2014, Moby sold the castle and downsized to a smaller home in the Los Feliz neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Moby identifies himself as heterosexual and cisgender and had felt "disappointed" to be straight.

Moby claimed in a book to have had a brief relationship with actress Natalie Portman, though she has denied this, calling Moby's account "disturbing", with Natalie further describing their interactions as "a much older man being creepy with me".

In 1984, Moby was inspired to become a vegetarian by a cat named Tucker that he had found at a dump in Darien, Connecticut.

Moby is a strong supporter of animal rights, and described it as his "day job" other than musical projects.

In 2019, Moby had "Vegan for life" tattooed on his neck by his friend, tattoo artist Kat Von D That November, he had "Animal rights" tattooed on his arms to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of being a vegan.

Moby continued to drink to excess and would ask audiences at concerts to give him drugs.

Moby identified himself as an atheist when he was growing up, followed by agnostic, then "a good eight or ten years of being quite a serious Christian", during which time he taught Bible studies.

Moby is an advocate for a variety of causes, working with MoveOn.

Moby created MoveOn Voter Fund's Bush in 30 Seconds contest along with singer and MoveOn Cultural Director Laura Dawn and MoveOn Executive Director Eli Pariser.

Moby actively engages in nonpartisan activism and serves on the Board of Directors of Amend.

Moby is a member of the board of directors of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing scientific inquiry on music and the brain and to developing clinical treatments to benefit people of all ages.

Moby has performed on various benefit concerts to help increase awareness for music therapy and raise funds for the institute.

Moby is an advocate of net neutrality and he testified before United States House of Representatives committee debating the issue in 2006.

Moby held a second sale for the organisation in June 2018 consisting of his personal record collection, including records that he used to use for DJ sets in his early career and his own personal copy of his albums.

In 2018, Moby participated in Al Gore's 24-hour broadcast on climate change and environmental issues.

Moby developed an interest in photography at age ten when his uncle, a photographer for The New York Times, gave him a Nikon F camera.

Moby kept his photography private until 2010, when he put some of his work on public display at the Clic Gallery and the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.

In May 2011, Moby released a photography book containing pictures that were taken during the Wait for Me tour in 2010 named Destroyed.

From October to December 2014, Moby showcased his Innocents collection of large-scale photographs at the Fremin Gallery, featuring a post-apocalyptic theme and a cast of fictitious cult members wearing masks.

In 2014, Moby began writing an autobiography covering his life and career from his move to New York City in the late 1980s to the recording of Play in 1999.

Moby enjoyed the experience, and wrote approximately 300,000 words before cutting it by half to reach a rough edit of the book.

Moby put out the compilation album Music from Porcelain to coincide the book's release, featuring his own tracks and a mixtape of tracks by other artists.

In September 2021, Moby published The Little Pine Cookbook, featuring vegan recipes developed from his time owning his restaurant.