Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965),[2] better known by his stage name Moby, is an American DJ, singer-songwriter, and musician.

Moby sings and plays keyboard, guitar, bass guitar and drums. He became a successful artist on the ambient electronica scene, and achieved eight top 40 singles in the UK during the 1990s. In 1999 he released the album Play, a mix of melancholic chill-out, ambient music, and upbeat electronica, that was critically acclaimed and produced an impressive eight hit singles (including his most popular songs "South Side," "Porcelain," "Natural Blues," and "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?"). Play became a commercial success, selling over 10 million copies worldwide[3] (the best-selling electronica album ever)[citation needed] and with its eighteen songs receiving an unprecedented licensing in films, television and commercial advertisements.

His follow-up album, 18 (2002) was also successful, selling over 5 million copies worldwide and receiving mostly positive reviews. His next offer, the mostly upbeat Hotel (2005) received mixed reviews and sold around 2 million copies worldwide. Moby released his most recent albums, Last Night (2008) and Wait for Me (2009), finding higher critical acclaim and moderate sales. AllMusic considers Moby "one of the most important dance music figures of the early '90s, helping bring the music to a mainstream audience both in the UK and in America."[4] Moby's latest album, Destroyed, was released on May 13, 2011. Worldwide, Moby has sold over 20 million albums.[5]

Moby has also co-written, produced or remixed music for Michael Jackson, David Bowie, Brian Eno, Pet Shop Boys, Britney Spears, New Order, Public Enemy, Guns 'N' Roses, Metallica and more.

Background information
Birth name	Richard Melville Hall
Born	11 September 1965 (age 45) Harlem, New York, US
Origin	Darien, Connecticut, US
Genres	Electronic dance music Electronica Electronic rock Alternative rock Ambient
Occupations	DJ Singer-songwriter Musician
Instruments	Turntables Keyboards Guitar Bass guitar Vocals Drums
Years active	1982–present
Labels	Mute Records (UK), V2 Records (US), XL Recordings (UK), Elektra (US), Instinct (US), Outer Rhythm (UK), Virgin Records/EMI Records (Brazil)
Associated acts	Vatican Commandos, UHF, Voodoo Child, Diamondsnake,[1] Mylène Farmer
Website	moby.com

 2009–2010: Wait for Me :

In a November 2008 interview Moby spoke about the follow up album to Last Night. "I want to make a really emotional, beautiful record. I don't know if I will succeed, but my goal is to make something very personal, very melodic, very beautiful."[13] On 14 April Moby confirmed that the album would be released on the 30 June .[14] "I recorded the album here in my studio on the lower east side (although 'studio' always seems like an overly grand word for a bunch of equipment set up in a small bedroom). In the past I've worked in large and small studios, but for this record I wanted to record everything at home by myself," said Moby on his journal.[14] "I started working on the album about a year ago, and the creative impetus behind the record was hearing a David Lynch speech at BAFTA, in the UK. David was talking about creativity, and to paraphrase, about how creativity in and of itself, and without market pressures, is fine and good. It seems as if too often an artist's, musician's or writer's creative output is judged by how well it accommodates the marketplace, and how much market share it commands and how much money it generates. In making this record I wanted to focus on making something that I loved, without really being concerned about how it might be received by the marketplace. As a result it's a quieter and more melodic and more mournful and more personal record than some of the records I've made in the past."[14] The album, titled Wait for Me, was released in June 2009.[15] [16]

Moby and David Lynch discussed the recording process of the album on Lynch's online channel, David Lynch Foundation Television Beta.[17]

The first single off the album was "Shot in the Back of the Head," and the video for it was aptly directed by Moby's muse, David Lynch.[14] The single was available for free download from Moby's website.

Ken Thomas, who had previously produced some Sigur Rós albums, mixed Wait for Me.[14] According to Moby, "mixing the record with him (Thomas) was really nice, as he's creatively open to trying anything (like recording an old broken bakelite radio and running it through some broken old effects pedals to see what it would sound like. It's on the record as a 45 second long track called "Stock Radio"). And as a geeky technical aside, we mixed the record using purely analog equipment in true stereo, akin to how records were mixed in the late '60s, some of the songs sound pretty amazing in headphones, if I do say so myself..."[14]

Moby plans to tour for the new album with a full band again, something that occurred rarely during Moby's Last Night promotion, except for selected festival performances.[18] Moby raised between $75,000 and $100,000 to help those affected by domestic violence[19] after all funding for the state's domestic violence program was cut in July. To do this, he donated the profits from his upcoming shows in California (San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles). Moby headlined the Australian 2009 Falls Festival,[citation needed] as well as the other Sunset Sounds festivals.

On February 22, 2010, Moby announced a UGC competition with Genero.TV asking his fans to create a videoclip, that will be serviced worldwide as the official videoclip for his upcoming single "Wait for Me," the last single from his album Wait for Me. On April 19, Moby chose the winning videoclip out of 500 entries, "based on it's creativity, production value, concept, and humor."[20] The chosen videoclip, written and directed by Nimrod Shapira from Israel, portrays the story of a girl who decides to invite Moby into her life. She attempts to do so by using the "How to Summon Moby Guide for Dummies," putting herself through 10 bizarre and comical steps (each is a tribute to a different Moby videoclip). The single was released on May 4, 2010.

In March 2010, Moby released a new single "Wait For Me," the title track from his original album. It was released on May 3, 2010.