Malcolm Mooney's father, after serving in the navy, became a jazz piano player who had once been taught in North Carolina by a former teacher of Nina Simone.
In April 1968, Mooney parted ways with his friend Zim and took a flight to Cologne, reaching out to the Schmidt household who agreed to let him live in their apartment.
[4] During his time in Cologne, Malcolm Mooney became friends with Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay, who were forming a band and accepted to join them as lead vocalist.
[3] Can showed him an instrumental tape and asked to came up with accompanying lyrics, which turned out as "Father Cannot Yell" on Monster Movie, reminiscing about his pilgrimage and taking inspiration from the relationship between Zim and his girlfriend who left during his journey.
This song marked a determining moment for the band, the time when, as Holger admitted, "Can wasn't sure yet which way musically to go till Malcolm jumped one day to the microphone and pushed us into A RHYTHM".
Mooney quit the band and returned to America soon after the recording of Monster Movie, having been told by a psychiatrist that getting away from the chaotic music of Can would be better for his mental health.
He also has released three albums with the San Francisco Bay Area band Tenth Planet, on the first of which, a new version of the song "Father Cannot Yell" from Monster Movie appears.
[8] In 2013, Mooney began to collaborate with drummer, songwriter and producer Sean Noonan, along with Jamaaladeen Tacuma and Aram Bajakian, to record Pavees Dance: There's Always the Night.
In April 2017, Mooney appeared at the Barbican Centre in the City of London as the lead singer of The Can Project, a reunion concert with Irmin Schmidt joined by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and My Bloody Valentine's Debbie Googe.
Malcolm Mooney appears on the following original albums: With Can: With Tenth Planet: White Columns: with Luis Tovar and Alex Marcelo With Andy Votel: With Dave Tyack With Sean Noonan With Jane Weaver