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Born
September 11, 1965 in Harlem, New York City. Given the
legal name Richard Melville Hall. Given the nickname 'Moby' at
birth due to having Herman Melville as an ancestor. Lived in a
basement apartment in New York City with James Hall and
Elizabeth Hall and 3 pet lab rats, a dog named Jamie, and a
cat.
In 1967, James Hall killed in a
car crash.
In 1967,moved with Elizabeth Hall
(mom) to Danbury, Connecticut to an apartment in a strange
house by the Danbury prison.
In 1968, first fell in love with
a song, 'Proud Mary' by CCR. Refused to leave car when
aforementioned song was on crappy sounding AM radio in beat up
old Plymouth.
Summer of 1969, moved to San
Francisco for the Summer of Love. Vague memory of meeting John
Wayne.
Autumn of 1969, moved to Darien,
Connecticut to live in a big suburban house with grandparents,
Myron Warner and Jeanette McBride Warner. Attended Royle
Grammar School from 1970-1975. Strange fact: best friend in
1973 was Robert Downey Jr. Parents used to smoke pot together,
haven't seen him since.
In 1975, moved to a haunted house
populated with hippies in Stratford, Connecticut.
In 1977, moved back to Darien,
Connecticut.
In 1978, began taking guitar
lessons from a cute suburban girl who was in love with James
Taylor.
In 1978, learned how to play
first song on guitar, 'Crocodile Rock'. Disappointed that cute
guitar teacher had no amorous interest in me oops, in Moby.
Sorry, trying to maintain objectivity.
In 1979, started first band. We
knew 2 songs, 'Money' by Pink Floyd and 'Birthday' by the
Beatles.
In 1980, started first new
wave/punk rock band called 'The Banned', then 'Uxb', then
'DD", and finally settling on 'Vatican Commandoes'. We
started out covering Clash and Sex Pistols songs and then
writing our own punk rock ditties, such as 'Housewives on
Valium' and 'Wonder Bread'.
In 1982, started darker new wave
band called AWOL..
In 1981, to break the timeline a
little bit, went to first New York City nightclub. the Mudd
Club, to see Fear, it was awesome.
In 1983, released first record,
'Hit Squad for God' with Vatican Commandos.
In 1983, I also got my first
4-track recorder. It was a brown, Tascam 4 track cassette
recorder and I set it up in the basement of my mother's house.
This is when I realized that I could finish songs by myself
and that I didn't need to be so reliant upon other musicians.
In 1984, released second record,
'AWOL' by AWOL. Oops, graduated from Darien High School in
1983 and started Attending University of Connecticut, but that
didn't last long. Dropped out of UConn in 1984.
In 1984, started DJ'ing at the
Beat in Port Chester, New York. Early DJ'ing experiences there
consisted of playing records at 3 in the morning in the middle
of the week to 4 or 5 passed out drunks. It got better, and I
had some really wonderful moments there. Ah,
memories...Continued to live in Darien, Connecticut until
1985. Moved to Greenwich, Connecticut in 1986. Lived next door
to George Bush's mom. Very strange. Lived in the woods in a
carriage house that a friend of mine was sort of squatting in.
Moved to Stamford, Connecticut in 1988. Lived in a
semi-abandoned factory with no running water in my space. It
was illegal to live there, but I loved it. Had cockroaches the
size of Chihuahuas. Could hear them running around. They were
disgusting. But I loved living in that old, semi-abandoned
factory. In 1987, I started taking demo tapes around NYC
trying to get a record deal. 2 years of very fruitless labor,
being rejected by every label that I spoke to.
In 1989, I finally received some
interest from a new label in NYC called Instinct Records. And
in 1989 I moved to New York to a very dark and dirty apartment
on 14th Street and 3rd avenue that was next to a Mexican
restaurant with deep-fried everything and a 24 hour sex
shop/brothel. New York sure has changed...Released first
single, 'Time's Up' as the Brotherhood. This record sold all
of, I don't know, 8 copies? Began DJ'ing around New York at
defunct clubs such as Mars, the Palladium, MK, Palace de
Beaute, etc. First ever live electronic performance at MK in
the summer of 1990.
1990. I wore a suit. I was very
nervous. Second ever live electronic performance at the
Palladium in Autumn of 1990. 5,000 people. It went
surprisingly well even though I was a nervous wreck. Released
2nd single 'Mobility' in winter of 1990. It sold around 2,000
copies. I was thrilled. Really. For I expected it to fare as
well as 'The Brotherhood' single, so selling anything over 100
copies was, for me, a great success. Released 3rd single
'Voodoo Child' in early Winter of 1991. It sold around 4,000
copies and I actually heard it played in a nightclub. Life was
good. Released 4th single, 'Go' in spring of 1991. I was
hoping that it would sell 4,000 copies. It has since gone on
to sell around 1,000,000 copies and was even listed as one of
Rolling Stone's best records of all time.
Imagine
my surprise. And that's when things started to get a little
bit crazy. The Rave scene was exploding and I was putting out
records that were actually selling well and I was traveling
back and forth to Europe and performing for thousands of kids
slathered in Vick's Vapo-Rub and out of their minds on
ecstasy. Needless to say it was very exciting. |
In 1992, I did my first-ever
American tour with the Shamen. It was fun at times, but I was
very unhappy being away from home for 6 weeks.
In 1992, I also left Instinct and
signed with Elektra records and Mute Records.
In
1993, I did my second ever American tour with the
Prodigy and Richie Hawtin (and the plus 8 sound system). This
was a lot more fun and I even had my first ever tour-related
one-night stand! Which, of course, I felt very guilty about.
In 1993, I released a single
called 'Move' that became my 3rd UK Top 40 Single ('Go' went
to #10, and some other singles, 'uhf' and 'Next is the E' Also
went top 40. All very surprising for a little wiener like me
from Connecticut).
In 1994, I did my third-ever
American tour with Orbital and Aphex Twin. It was kind of a
sad tour, cos' everyone hated me. Really. Which is too bad,
cos' I liked them. Ah well.
In 1995, I released my first real
album, 'Everything is Wrong' which was named Spin's 'Album of
the Year'. That year I also toured with Lollapalooza and the
Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Spin also named the single 'Everytime
You Touch Me' their favorite single of 1995. It was a very
good year, and then it all went dark...
In 1996, I began suffering from
acute panic attacks and I was working on "Animal Rights',
which I loved but which no one else seemed to like very much.
After the relative success of 'Everything is Wrong', the bad
reviews and poor sales of 'Animal Rights' were kind of
depressing, but I still love 'Animal Rights' and I'm thrilled
the record companies let me release it. To compound the
darkness of this period, my mother was diagnosed and ended up
dying of lung cancer. In some ways, I see 'Animal Rights' as
being my strange and pained reaction to her illness (even
though it was written before she was diagnosed. I think on
some level I knew that something was wrong. There's even a
song on 'Animal Rights' called 'Love Song for My Mom' that was
written and recorded right before she was diagnosed with
cancer.)
In 1997, I stopped touring for a
while and worked on some film music, including the 'James Bond
Theme', which became my 8th(?) UK Top 40 single (it charted at
#8, which made me feel good after "Animal Rights'
tanked). And did you know that when I went to the UK to do
press for `Animal Rights` they could only find 2 journalists
who wanted to talk to me? Yup. That's why I refuse to complain
when I find myself doing a lot of interviews. The alternative
to doing a lot of interviews, doing none because no one is
interested, is grim. So if you ever hear me complaining about
the arduous life of a traveling musician just hit me (but
gently, I'm little and I bruise easily...).
In 1997, I released 'I Like to
Score', which was a collection of music that I'd made that had
appeared in different films. It did ok compared to 'Animal
Rights', which isn't saying much. And around this time was
when I believe that most people had pretty much completely
written me off, which, thankfully, I wasn't aware of at the
time. So in 1997, I began working on my next record, which was
released in
May of 1999, and ended up being
called 'Play''. When I made 'Play' we spent a few months
looking for a new American record label (cos i had parted ways
Elektra in 1998), but no one was particularly interested, but
luckily V2 Records liked the music and were willing to take a
chance on 'Play', and when we released 'Play' we had very high
hopes. Our great ambition was for "Play' to sell 250,000
copies worldwide, so imagine our joy and surprise as it's
since gone on to sell almost 10,000,000 copies and around
3,000,000 singles. 'Play' was a #1 record in a lot of
countries, and it ended up becoming a platinum record in 25?
26? countries. I'm still kind of shocked at how well it did.
What am I saying? I'm still completely shocked at how well it
did. A little record made in the bedroom of a musician that
most people had completely dismissed that goes on to sell
almost 10 million copies? I'm sure you understand my surprise
at its success. And because of the strange and long-developing
success of 'Play' I ended up being on tour for over 2 years,
which was great, for in the beginning of the tour we were
playing tiny little venues and by the end of the tour we were
playing arenas that's crazy, isn't it? Our first show in New
York City after the release of 'Play' was in the basement of a
record store. Our last show in New York was for 15,000 people.
Our first show in London after the release of 'Play' was for
around 500 people. The last show was for 20,000 (over 2
nights). Crazy, but fun, and exceptionally gratifying given
the surprising and unexpected nature of the success. Other
kind of strange and surprising tid-bits of success were being
nominated for Grammy's 3 years in a row, winning an MTV Europe
and an MTV U.S.A award, winning a VH-1 award, and so on. Oh
boy, all of this shameless bragging makes me feel kind of
dirty...So the tour for 'Play' ended in February of 2001, and
I came home to New York to begin work on my next record,
which, as I write this, is finished and is entitled
'"18". Not to be too arrogant, I love it. It worries
me how much I love this record, cos normally when I make a
record I have very mixed feelings about it, but there's
something about this record that I really love. Ah well, maybe
I'll listen to it tomorrow and think that I'm a complete
failure and that no one will like it or buy it. Because I make
my records by myself, I do tend to lose perspective and
objectivity, but right now I love '18', and I genuinely hope
that you like it, too.
Thanks for reading and listening - MOBY
©
www.moby.com
In
His Words
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![The June Bug - Cotinus Nitida - Linnaeus - Really a Flying Beetle - " I'm coming to get you!! " - Cotinus Nitida - The June Bug, also called May Beetle, or July Bug - Any insect of the genus Phyllophaga, belonging to the widely distributed, plant-feeding subfamily Melolonthinae - family Scarabaeidae, order Coleoptera. These red-brown / green or even orange beetles commonly appear in the Northern Hemisphere during warm spring evenings and are attracted to lights. The heavy-bodied June beetles vary from 12 to 25 mm - 0.5 to 1 inch, and have shiny wing covers (elytra). They feed on foliage and flowers at night, sometimes causing considerable damage. June beetle larvae, called white grubs, are about 25 mm long and live in the soil. They can destroy crops, like, corn [maize], small grains, potatoes, strawberries, and they can kill lawns and pastures by severing the grasses from the roots.](http://www.hcaeb.fsnet.co.uk/end_list/june_bug_head.jpg)
