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Moby

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Moby

Moby (born Richard Melville Hall, September 11, 1965), is an American songwriter, musician and singer.

He was born in Harlem, New York, and raised in Darien, Connecticut. After eight UK Top 40 singles in the 1990s with techno music, his biggest success was his more mainstream album Play, released in 1999, which sold 10 million copies worldwide.[1] He continues to record and release music today.

His parents nicknamed him Moby soon after birth,[2] partly after the novel Moby-Dick, which was written by Herman Melville, his great-great grand uncle. He plays keyboard, guitar, bass guitar and drums. He has also released music under the names Voodoo Child, Barracuda, UHF, The Brotherhood, DJ Cake, Lopez, and Mindstorm. He has received a lot of attention for his political, environmental and religious beliefs.

Music career

Early years

In the early 1980s Moby was in a hardcore punk band called the Vatican Commandos, who released an EP called Hit Squad for God. He was a house disc jockey at The Beat in Port Chester, New York from 1985 and signed a recording contract with Instinct Records in 1989. His first success was Go, a progressive track using the string line from Laura Palmer's Theme from the TV drama Twin Peaks. It reached the UK top ten in October 1991 and earned him an appearance on Top of the Pops,[3] and features on his first album, The Story So Far (aka Moby).

In 1993 he toured with The Prodigy, Orbital, and Aphex Twin,[3].

1994–1998

Template:Sound sample box align right Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end His first album for Mute Records was Everything Is Wrong in 1995, which earned early critical praise and minor commercial success. (It was distributed in the USA by Elektra Records.) He followed this up in early 1996 with the double album Everything Is Wrong - Mixed and Remixed.

Soon after, his original record company, Instinct, released a B-sides album named Rare: The Collected B-Sides 1989-1993. One song on this album, Thousand, earned him a world record for the fastest song ever. It reached 1015 BPM.

Later in 1996 he released a hard rock/electronic album called Animal Rights and toured Europe with the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Unusually for Moby, who usually writes all his own music, occasionally with collaborators, Animal Rights included a cover version, Clint Conley's That's When I Reach for My Revolver.

In 1997, he released I Like to Score, a collection of his music that had been used 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 Elektra declined distribution of future Moby releases.

1999–2004

After a decade's worth of music, Moby's breakthrough album was 1999's Play. The album has 18 tracks and was the first album in history to have all of its tracks commercially licensed (see 'Moby's songs used in other media' below). 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".[4]

In 2001, Moby co-wrote and produced Is It Any Wonder with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, for her solo debut album, Read My Lips. The song would later be remixed and released as a b-side on the Music Gets the Best of Me single.

In 2003, Moby produced a song for Britney Spears for her album In The Zone. The song was called Early Mornin' . It was not released as a single, but it has been a fan favorite.

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 "36-year-old baldheaded fag" and questioning his relevance, and declaring "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 released 18, an album that had 18 tracks. The most popular song on the album was We Are All Made of Stars.

Moby briefly had a television show on MTV in 2002, Señor Moby's House of Music, which focused mostly on more obscure electronic music. Moby also appeared on Ride with Funkmaster Flex.

File:Moby-RareDJSet.JPG
Moby performs a rare DJ set at NASA Rewind 04-03-2004 in NYC

2005—

In 2005 Moby released his album Hotel. 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.

The 2005 multi-award winning documentary Earthlings, narrated by Hollywood actor and animal rights activist Joaquin Phoenix, features an original score by Moby.

Moby scored the soundtrack for Richard Kelly's 2006 movie Southland Tales; he was a huge fan of Kelly's previous film, Donnie Darko, and could not resist the offer the director gave him[citation needed].

On November 6, 2006, a compilation album of his greatest hits, entitled Go: The Very Best of Moby was released, which includes a new track, New York, New York for which Debbie Harry provided vocals. Different versions of this album have his single Slipping Away in different languages and with different co-singers.

Moby reunited Richard Barone's legendary 80s pop group The Bongos to produce and play on a new version of their song The Bulrushes. The result, Bulrushes 2007 is included as a bonus track on the special edition release of the band's debut album, Drums Along The Hudson, released on Cooking Vinyl Records on June 12, 2007. He also appears in the music video for the track.

On 24 February 2007 Moby announced on his online journal that he was currently in the process of whittling down 400 songs to about 20 for a new album due out around September.

Innovation

Moby has used some unusual innovations in his career. His 1995 single Everytime You Touch Me (CDMUTE176) featured a remix by the winner of a competition, Jude Sebastian. For certain dates on Moby's 2005 European tour, Live Here Now provided concert-goers with compact disc recordings of the show 10 minutes after it ended. His 2005 single Lift Me Up featured, in addition to numerous remixes, UK company Digimpro's software, which allows users to remix the song, using any or all of the samples included, and save it as an MP3 file. Digimpro had previously seen exposure with group Erasure's singles Breathe, Here I Go Impossible Again, and Don't Say You Love Me.

Essays

Many Moby albums include essays that he has written himself in the inlay card. Everything Is Wrong had essays on over-consumption ("We use toxic chlorine bleach to keep our underpants white") and US religious leaders ("Why doesn't the Christian right go out and spread mercy, compassion and selflessness?"), and The End of Everything discussed being a vegetarian ("Could you look an animal in the eyes and say to it, 'My appetite is more important than your suffering'?")

Besides music

The name Moby comes from the Herman Melville classic Moby-Dick. His great-great grand uncle wrote it, and so Hall chose the name Moby in tribute. He 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. Until recently he co-owned a small restaurant and tea shop called TeaNY, where he occasionally waited tables. He also organized the Little Idiot Collective, a group of artists.

Moby has signed up to pay $207,000 to become the first pop star to travel into space on the space tourism company Virgin Galactic's VSS Enterprise spaceship in 2010.[5]

In an interview with Psychology Today, Moby stated that, when he was 19, he tried LSD and began suffering from panic attacks. He claims that he no longer experiences them as frequently as he used to, but occasionally he will "have too much caffeine, be stressed out about work and be in a relationship that's not going well, and it will happen again." He is very open about this in an attempt to help fans who suffer from similar panic disorders.[6]

Activism

Moby is a well known advocate for a variety of progressive causes, working with MoveOn and PETA, among others. He created MoveOn Voter Fund's "Bush in 30 Seconds" contest along with singer/MoveOn Cultural Director 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 [1], promoting music therapy. Moby also serves on the Board of Directors of Amend.org [2], a nonprofit that implements injury prevention programs in Africa.

He is an advocate of network neutrality and he testified before the US House committee debating the issue in 2006.[7][8]

Faith

In a 2003 BBC interview, Moby speaks about his encounter with the gospels, "In about 1985 I read the teachings of Christ and was instantly struck by the idea that Christ was somehow divine. When I say I love Christ and love the teachings of Christ I mean that in the most simple and naïve way. I'm not saying I'm right."[9]

In a September 20, 2006, audio interview with Sojourners Magazine's John Potter, (a magazine considered to be a voice in the evangelical left), he says, "I read the New Testament, specifically the gospels and I was struck at their divinity, feeling that humans could not have figured this out on their own. We're just not bright enough."[10]

He also discusses his faith on his own weblog. On January 19 2007, in his reaction to seeing Alexandra Pelosi's Friends of God, a film about evangelicalism in the United States, Moby writes, "The movie reminded me just how utterly disconnected the agenda of the evangelical Christian right is from the teachings of Christ."[11]

Moby's songs used in other media

"Ah-Ah" and "Next Is the E" were featured in:

"First Cool Hive" was featured in:

  • The movie Scream.
  • Opening credits of Finnish IT news program verkoss@ (produced by Media-Active Oy, aired on MTV3 circa 1996—1998).

"Inside" was featured in:

  • The WB's hit show Popular.
  • The big wave surfing documentary, "Riding Giants".

"Find my Baby" was featured in:

Also used in an advert for Nescafé coffee in the U.K.

"In My Heart" was featured in:

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

"I'm Not Worried At All" was featured in:

  • TV-series CSI: NY episode "Oedipus Hex", Season Three Episode Five.

"Flower" was featured in:

"Natural Blues" was featured in:

"Rafters" was featured in:

  • The 2003 Australian Swimming Championship, Broadcast on the Seven Network.

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

"Rushing" was featured 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 original series The Sopranos ("Join the Club")

"Porcelain" was featured in:

  • The 1998 film Playing by Heart
  • The 1999 film The Beach and its trailer.
  • Commercial bumpers for Spanish TV channel TVE
  • The 2001 film Dancing at the Blue Iguana
  • The 2001 film Is Harry on the Boat
  • The May 30, 2000 series finale of TV drama "Party of Five"
  • A 2000 Canadian Baileys Irish Cream Television Advertisement
  • Virgin Atlantic's Boarding Music during November 2005

"Everloving" was featured in:

"My Weakness" was featured in:

"The Sky Is Broken" was featured in:

"One of These Mornings" was featured in:

"Lift Me Up" was featured in:

  • The 2005 released racing game Asphalt Urban GT 2 for cell phones. The game was developed and published by Gameloft. The Nokia N-Gage version featured the song, while other versions(Java & Symbian OS) featured the tune.
  • The 2006 Bemani game beatmania (North America)
  • During 2006 on Channel Nine Australia's coverage of Rugby League
  • ITV coverage of the Formula One racing
  • The 2007 commercial advertising Discovery's show called Expedition Borneo
  • In Doctor Who Confidential The Valiant Quest

"Oil 1" was featured in:

"Bodyrock" was featured in:

"Memory Gospel" was featured in:

"New Dawn Fades", originally by Joy Division, was featured in:

"Anthem" was featured in:

"Go" was featured in:

"Slipping Away" was featured in:

"Love of Strings" was featured in:

"Beautiful" was featured in:

Discography

Main article: Moby discography

Videography

File:Govideo.jpg
A screenshot of the "Go" video.
  • Play: The DVD (2001)
  • 18 DVD + B Sides (2003)
  • Moby Presents: Alien Sex Party (2003)
  • The Hotel Tour 2005 (2006)
  • Go: The Very Best of Moby (2006)

Biographies

  • Moby: Replay, 2001 Olmstead Press Paperback ISBN 1-58754-011-8

References

  1. ^ Jerry Armor, Moby didn't feel pressure to follow up 'Play', Yahoo! Music, viewed 23 February 2007.
  2. ^ "Why Moby matters" interview, USA Weekend, accessed 16 June 2007.
  3. ^ a b Official website's biography, accessed 2 January 2006
  4. ^ "http://www.moby.com/node/5461". {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  5. ^ "http://www.nme.com/news/moby/21800". {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  6. ^ http://psychologytoday.com/rss/pto-20041202-000001.html
  7. ^ "http://www.savetheinternet.com/moby". {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  8. ^ "http://www.freepress.net/news/15579". {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help); Cite journal requires |journal= (help); External link in |title= (help)
  9. ^ "Moby tells BBC World Service that his understanding of Christianity helped him achieve a new balance in life". bbc.co.uk 29.04.03
  10. ^ "Moby: Everything is complicated". John Potter's Sojourners Magazine audio interview with Moby, September 20, 2006.
  11. ^ "Moby's blog". Moby.com, Journal entry January 19, 2007.
  12. ^ a b http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005240/ The Internet Movie Database
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