Richard Melville Hall was born in New York City on September 11, 1965 and soon after acquired the nickname, Moby, as his great-great-granduncle, Herman Melville, was the author of Moby Dick, Moby’s dad died in a car wreck when he was only two years old, and he then moved with his mother to live in Darien, Conn. with his grandparents.

As a child, Moby’s artistic abilities were fully supported by his family, and he received classical guitar lessons starting at the age of ten. At thirteen, Moby became interested in other instruments such as the keyboard, drums and bass; he also began to focus much attention towards religion during this same time period.

Although Moby was fortunate to have classical guitar experience, he was drawn to the rock and rollers—performing in many different punk, new wave, jazz and metal ensembles. He was featured with a band called the Vatican Commandos as well as the anarchist group, Flipper, where Moby stood in for the band’s lead singer who was in jail at the time. For a brief period, Moby signed on with the band Ultra Vivid Scene and decided it was time for a little change. He enrolled in college and quickly realizing books were not for him, Moby returned to NYC and started DJing, which would lead him to release a set of singles on the independent label, Instinct.

Moby enjoyed much success from these singles and became the “hot re-mixer of the moment” during the early 1990s. He began working on tracks with such artists as Michael Jackson, Eno and the Pet Shop Boys. He was even mentioned in the Guinness Book of World Records in reference to his hit, “Thousand”, which ran at the record speed of 1,000 beats per minute. His first full-length album, Moby, was released on Instinct in 1992. Following this, he would sign contracts with both Mute Records and Elektra. In 1993, Moby finally gained the recognition he had been aiming for with his album, Everything Is Wrong, and was also one of the featured artists at that year’s Lollapalooza festival.

Moby has been known to bounce around from dance music to guitar-heavy thrasher type material, but has most recently returned to dance. Through his music, it is obvious that Moby is still trying to find himself both as a an individual and as a performer, and he hopes that he will continue to change and evolve on both fronts as well.