Richard Melville Hall (September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, disc jockey, and animal rights activist.

Moby followed Play with albums of varied styles including electronic, dance, rock, and downtempo music, starting with 18 (2002), Hotel (2005), and Last Night (2008).

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

[26][27] In 1987, he started to send demos of his music to record labels in New York City; he failed to receive an offer, which led to a two-year period of "very fruitless labor".

[27] 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,[25] using a 4-track recorder, synthesizer, and drum machine.

[13][21] In addition to performing DJ sets in local bars and clubs, he played guitar in alternative rock group Ultra Vivid Scene and appeared in the video for their 1989 single "Mercy Seat".

[36] He then scored a breakthrough hit with a remix of "Go", originally a B-side to "Mobility" with an added sample of "Laura Palmer's Theme" by Angelo Badalamenti from the television series Twin Peaks.

A rift developed between Aphex Twin and himself, partly due to Moby's refusal to tolerate their cigarette smoke, so he travelled to each gig by plane, leaving the rest on the tour bus.

The Los Angeles Times thought the 29-year-old Moby was "poised for greatness [...] to make that big crossover" from a respected underground artist to a mainstream dance and rock musician.

[52] 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.

This marked a major stylistic change for his next album, Animal Rights, combining guitar-driven rock songs with Moby on lead vocals and softer ambient tracks.

[65] 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.

[71] The tour included the Area2 Festival in the summer of 2002, featuring a line-up of Moby, David Bowie, Blue Man Group, Busta Rhymes, and Carl Cox.

[72] 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.

[87] 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.

[91] He 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.

[124] Moby's sole live performance of 2016 was at Circle V, a vegan food and music festival that he founded that took place on October 23 at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles.

[125] A second album with the Void Pacific Choir name followed in June 2017, entitled More Fast Songs About the Apocalypse, influenced by the results of the 2016 United States presidential election.

[127] The second single, "Mere Anarchy", was described by Moby as "post apocalypse, people are gone, and my friend Julie and I are time traveling aliens visiting the empty Earth.

"[131] Moby promoted the album with three live shows in March 2018 with a full band, one at The Echo in Los Angeles and two at Rough Trade in New York City.

It was made almost exclusively with dated drum machines and synthesizers, with his "early ambient heroes" as sources of inspiration, including Brian Eno and Jean-Michel Jarre.

In 1992 he contributed vocals to song "Curse" on Recoil's "Bloodline" (Alan Wilder's solo project, he was Depeche Mode member at time of that recording).

Little Walnut recently invested in the scripted feature film “Eternal Return” starring Kit Harrington and Naomi Scott and directed by Yaniv Raz.

It has featured guests as diverse as Hunter Biden (in one of his rare interviews), Ed Begley Jr., Lisa Edelstein, Dan Buettner, Peter Kalmus, Steve-O, and Joe Manganiello.

Little Walnut is currently in post-production on their first scripted feature, “Tecie,” penned by Moby, directed by Mark Webber, and produced by Hicks and Teresa Palmer.

The film is based on the activist culture of the Los Angeles animal rights community and is set to star Sarah Jeffery, Mena Massoud, and others.

[156] The event took place at LA's Fonda Theatre and featured Blaqk Audio & Cold Cave on the bill amongst others in the evening and talks and vegan food stalls in the afternoon.

[187] In April 2009, Moby spoke about his personal experiences of Transcendental Meditation at the benefit concert Change Begins Within of the David Lynch Foundation in New York City.

[189] In April 2018, Moby auctioned more than 100 pieces of musical equipment via Reverb.com to raise funds for the nonprofit organization Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, thinking it was better to sell it for a good cause rather than keep it in storage.

[196][197] 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.