Richard Melville Hall was born on September 11, 1965 in Harlem, New York. However, feeling that such a formal name did not suit their child’s slight stature, Richard’s parents decided to start calling him “Moby” a name that they picked up from the “Moby Dick” novel.
Encouraged by his mom, an avid record collector and pianist, Young Moby developed a love of music. This musical love was developed in large part by Moby’s exposure to a broad range of music by his mother. This early exposure became a tremendous influence on Moby’s relationship with music.
At the age of nine, Moby began taking music theory lessons and playing classical guitar. Several years after he attended Darien High School, where he and several friends formed a group known as the Vatican Commandoes and released an EP, Hit Squad for God. Later in high school, he joined another group called AWOL.
Through the mid-1980s, Moby attempted frantically to kick-start his music calling. He started DJing for local clubs, played in local groups like Gin Train and Caeli Soul, and worked in a record store in Darien, Connecticut. However, it was only as a DJ that Moby first started to realize prosperity, playing performances at a number of clubs.
In 1989, Moby finalized a contract with Instinct Records and moved to New York. He released his first single, “Mobility,” in 1990 to small recognition. However, his 2nd single, “Go,” launched Moby into core listeners for the very first time. The song instantly became a Top 10 hit in Great Britain, transporting Moby into a recognized figure in dance music and electronic.
Since then, the electronic singer-song writer has gone on to release ten albums, with one of those albums selling four million copies and another selling nine million copies. To this day, DJ Moby is very active in the electronic music scene.
