Historical Figure
Moby
b. 1965
American musician (born 1965)
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Biography
Richard Melville Hall, known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the most important dance music figures of the early 1990s, helping bring dance music to a mainstream audience both in the United States and the United Kingdom".
Timeline
The story of Moby, told in moments.
Born Richard Melville Hall in Harlem, New York. His family claims descent from Herman Melville. His father died in a car crash when he was two. His mother raised him in Darien, Connecticut, on food stamps. Punk kid in a rich suburb.
Releases "Go," a techno track built on a sample from the Twin Peaks theme. It hits the UK top ten. He's a vegan, Christian, straight-edge electronic musician in a scene fueled by drugs. He doesn't fit anywhere and fits everywhere.
Releases Play. Every label rejects it. He licenses every track for commercials, films, and TV shows. The album sells 12 million copies. "Porcelain" is in everything. He's turned rejection into the most commercially licensed album in history.
Publishes his memoir Then It Fell Apart. He writes about alcoholism, celebrity, and loneliness at the height of fame. He also claims to have dated Natalie Portman. She disputes it. The controversy overshadows the book.
In Their Own Words (16)
Mainly the fact that I love animals and don’t want to be involved in anything that causes or contributes to animal suffering. Also, I never really liked meat that much, unless it neither looked [n]or tasted like meat. Like taco filling. But, mainly because I love animals and don’t want them to suffer. Death is unavoidable, suffering is avoidable.
On what inspired him to go vegan, from an "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit; as quoted in "Vegan Veteran Moby Reveals on Reddit Why He Eschews Eating Animals", in Ecorazzi (6 February 2014), 2014
And on the last dayHe walked out in the sunHe only just discovered the sunOn the last day And on the last dayWhen all his work was doneHe only just discovered the sunOn the last day All this raptureRight here all alongIn scraps he tore away All this colorIn his final breathExhaled the dark and gray
The Last Day, from the album Innocents (October 1, 2013), co-written with Skylar Grey., 2013
He was searchingBlindly night and dayThis life, there must be more Breaking beauty,Just to stay awakeHis heart was like a stone
The Last Day, from the album Innocents (October 1, 2013), co-written with Skylar Grey., 2013
Put me on the train, send me back to my homeCouldn't live without you when I tried to roamPut me by the window, let me see outsideLooking at the places where all my family died
'', Wait for Me'', 2009., 2009
You are a liar. You are inept. You are probably the worst president that the United States has ever had to endure. You are not welcome in NYC.
Addressed to George W. Bush in "go home, gw", journal entry (10 September 2006) at moby.com, 2006
Artifacts (15)
Mud entered our souls in the drabness of prison,
hi was arrested over her role in the Quit India Movement. She was released from jail in April 1943. "Mud entered our souls in the drabness of prison," she later recalled her time in the jail. She...
When I came out, it was such a shock to see colors again I thought I would go ou...
l 1943. "Mud entered our souls in the drabness of prison," she later recalled her time in the jail. She added, "When I came out, it was such a shock to see colors again I thought I would go out of my...
China continues to maintain an attitude of hostility towards us and spares no op...
made no declarations of casualties but alleged India to be the aggressor. In December 1967, Indira Gandhi remarked these developments that "China continues to maintain an attitude of hostility towards...
the Nehrus, father and daughter, had always acted in this way, and Indira Gandhi...
as being a "despicable act of the Indian Government" by China. Chinese government mouthpiece China Daily wrote that "the Nehrus, father and daughter, had always acted in this way, and Indira Gandhi...
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