
- Order:
- Duration: 3:26
- Published: 05 Dec 2006
- Uploaded: 24 May 2011
- Author: rstoetzel
Coordinates | 5°20′0″N103°9′0″N |
---|---|
Name | Moby |
Background | solo_singer |
Born | September 11, 1965Harlem, New York, U.S. |
Birth name | Richard Melville Hall |
Origin | Darien, Connecticut, U.S. |
Instrument | TurntablesKeyboardsGuitarBass guitarVocalsDrums |
Genre | Electronic dance musicElectronicaPop rockAmbient |
Occupation | DJSinger-songwriterMusician |
Years active | 1982–present |
Label | Mute Records (UK), V2 Records (US), XL Recordings (UK), Elektra (US), Instinct (US), Outer Rhythm (UK), |
Associated acts | Vatican Commandos, UHF, Voodoo Child, Diamondsnake, Mylène Farmer |
Url |
Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), 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 "Porcelain", "Natural Blues" and "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?"). Play became a commercial success, selling over 10 million copies worldwide (the best-selling electronica album ever) and with its eighteen songs receiving an unprecedented licensing in films, television and commercial advertisements.
His follow-up album, 18 (2002) was also successful, receiving positive to mixed response. His next offer, the mostly upbeat Hotel (2005) received lukewarm reviews and poor sales in general. Moby released his most recent albums, Last Night (2008) and Wait for Me (2009), finding good reviews 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".
According to Hall, his middle name and the nickname "Moby" were given to him by his parents because of an ancestral relationship to Moby Dick author Herman Melville: "The basis for Richard Melville Hall – and for Moby – is that supposedly Herman Melville was my great-great-great-granduncle."
He has released music under the names 'Voodoo Child', 'Schaumgummi', and as a member of the bands Vatican Commandos, AWOL, Caeli Seoul and Gin Train.
His first single for Instinct was "Mobility", but it was the second single, "Go", a progressive house track using the string line from "Laura Palmer's Theme" from the TV drama Twin Peaks, which was his first breakthrough, reaching the UK top ten in October 1991 and earning him his first appearance on Top of the Pops.
In July 2001 Moby: PlaytheDVD was released. Produced by Moby and Jeff Rogers (Swell) the DVD was nominated for a 2002 Grammy award. The DVD included various sections: "Live on TV", most of the videos (excluding Southside w/Gwen Stefani), "Give An Idiot a Camcorder" (Moby was given a camcorder and the tape was later edited by Tara Bethune-Leaman) and an 88 minute Moby MegaMix of all the remixes created for the album Play. The Mega Mix was accompanied by visuals created in Toronto at Crush led by director Kathi Prosser.
In 2002 Moby released the follow up to Play, 18, which earned gold and platinum awards in over 30 countries, and sold more than four million copies. Moby toured extensively for both Play and 18, playing well over 500 shows in the course of four years.
He founded the Area:One Festival in 2001, a popular touring festival that features an eclectic range of musical genres. The Area:One tour featured: Outkast, Moby, New Order, Incubus, Nelly Furtado, and Paul Oakenfold. Area2 tour (2002) featured David Bowie, Moby, Blue Man Group, Busta Rhymes, and Carl Cox.
In the next few years, Moby co-wrote "Is It Any Wonder" with Sophie Ellis-Bextor, remixed the Beastie Boys, David Bowie, Nas and Metallica, produced and co-wrote the track "Early Mornin'" for Britney Spears' fourth studio album In the Zone, and collaborated with Public Enemy on "Make Love, Fuck War", which was released prior to the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Moby also had his song "Extreme Ways" used in the Jason Bourne movies. Although not a hit when it was released, "Extreme Ways" has gone on to become one of Moby's most downloaded songs.
In 2003 Moby headlined the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury. In 2004 Moby worked on the John Kerry presidential campaign, and also worked extensively with liberal group moveon.org.
In 2005 Moby released Hotel. Instead of his relying on samples for vocals, all of the vocals and instruments were performed live in the studio, by Moby and vocalist Laura Dawn.
Hotel spawned two of Moby's biggest European hits, "Lift Me Up" and "Slipping Away", both of which were #1 European singles. Hotel went on to earn gold and platinum awards in over twenty countries, with global sales of over two million copies.
In the UK, ITV used a specially remixed version of "Lift Me Up" as its Formula 1 coverage theme music.
In 2006, Moby also starred in the movie Pittsburgh, with Jeff Goldblum and Illeana Douglas.
In 2006, he accepted an offer to score the soundtrack for Richard Kelly's 2007 movie Southland Tales because he was a fan of Kelly's previous film, Donnie Darko.
In 2007 he produced and performed on The Bongos' remake of "The Bulrushes", for the special edition re-issue of their debut album, Drums Along The Hudson (Cooking Vinyl Records), and appeared in the promo video of the song.
In 2007 Moby launched a website entitled mobygratis.com. mobygratis provides free music for film students and independent and non-profit filmmakers. It is a non-profit venture, with any/all revenue earned by mobygratis.com going to the Humane Society/HSUS.
In 2007 Moby also started a rock band, The Little Death, NYC, with his friends Laura Dawn, Daron Murphy, and Aaron A. Brooks In 2008 Moby released Last Night, an eclectic album of electronic dance music inspired by a night out in his New York neighborhood (the Lower East Side). The singles from Last Night include "Alice", "Disco Lies", "I Love To Move In Here", and "Ooh Yeah". The album was recorded in Moby's home studio in Manhattan, New York and features a number of guest vocalists, including Wendy Starland, MC Grandmaster Caz, one of the writers of "Rapper's Delight" (on "I Love to Move in Here"), Sylvia from the band Kudu, British MC Aynzli and the Nigerian 419 Squad.
In collaboration with The Sunday Times, Moby released an exclusive mix album titled A Night in NYC which appeared on the newspaper's cover. It was a compilation of Moby tracks spanning his career and included video from his new album Last Night.
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." On the 14th of April, Moby confirmed that the album would be released on the 30th of June . "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.
Moby and David Lynch discussed the recording process of the album on Lynch's online channel, David Lynch Foundation Television Beta.
The first single off the album is "Shot in the Back of the Head", and the video for which was aptly directed by Moby's muse, David Lynch himself.
Moby expects to raise between $75,000 and $100,000 to help those affected by domestic violence after all funding for the state's domestic violence program was cut in July. To do this he is to donate the profits from his upcoming shows in California (San Diego, San Francisco and Los Angeles).
Moby headlined the Australian 2009 Falls Festival, 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". 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.
On 20 January 2010, Moby announced that he was to begin working on the next record. The mood for this record will be more acoustic and less electronic than before.
In March 2010, Moby announced that he will release a new single "Wait For Me", the title track from his original album, on May 4, 2010.
He made two duets with the French singer Mylène Farmer (the one "Slipping Away (Crier La vie) in 2006 and the other "Looking For My Name" in 2008). He also produced 7 songs for her 8th album Bleu Noir published on 6 December 2010
In 2007, he became one of the few well-known commercial artists to produce work for a video game, collaborating with DJ Oscar the Punk on all three tracks of The Bioshock EP, included with limited edition copies of the Xbox 360 and PC game Bioshock.
In an interview with Psychology Today, Moby stated that when he was 19, he tried LSD and began suffering from panic attacks. He claims that he no longer experiences them as frequently as he used to, but occasionally he will "have too much caffeine, be stressed out about work and be in a relationship that's not going well, and it will happen again." He is very open about this in an attempt to help fans who suffer from similar panic disorders.
When asked about drugs, he responded: "I'm sort of a libertarian. People should be able to do what they want. I ultimately defer the wisdom to an adult to make their own choices. If someone wants to do drugs, I think it's their own business and not the business of the state."
In a 2003 BBC interview, Moby spoke about his encounter with the Gospels, "In about 1985 I read the teachings of Christ and was instantly struck by the idea that Christ was somehow divine. When I say I love Christ and love the teachings of Christ I mean that in the most simple and naïve and subjective way. I'm not saying I'm right, and I certainly wouldn't criticize anyone else's beliefs." In a interview with amazon.com, Moby said, "I can't really know anything. Having said that, though, on a very subjective level I love Christ. I perceive Christ to be God, but I predicate that with the knowledge that I'm small and not nearly as old as the universe that I live in. I take my beliefs seriously for myself, but I would be very uncomfortable trying to tell anyone that I was right."
In a September 20, 2006 audio interview with Sojourners magazine, he says, "I read the New Testament, specifically the gospels and I was struck at their divinity, feeling that humans could not have figured this out on their own. We're just not bright enough." He also discusses his faith on his own weblog. On January 19, 2007, in his reaction to seeing Alexandra Pelosi's , a film about evangelism in the United States, Moby writes, "The movie reminded me just how utterly disconnected the agenda of the evangelical Christian right is from the teachings of Christ."
In March 2008, after Gary Gygax's death, Moby was one of several celebrities stating they had been Dungeons & Dragons players.
In March 2010, Moby made his debut as an author when , a collection of essays from people in the food industry, was published.
Moby is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function (IMNF), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing scientific inquiry on music and the brain and to developing clinical treatments to benefit people of all ages. He has also performed on various benefit concerts to help increase awareness for music therapy and raise funds for the Institute. In 2004, he was honored with the IMNF’s 'Music Has Power Award' for his advocacy of music therapy and for his dedication and support to its recording studio program.
He is an advocate of network neutrality and he testified before United States House of Representatives committee debating the issue in 2006.
In 2008 he participated in a music album called Songs for Tibet, to support Tibet and the current Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso.
In 2009 after hearing about California cutting its funding to domestic violence programs, Moby decided to donate the fees from his tour shows in L.A. and San Francisco to the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.
He was interviewed by Lucy Walker for a chapter in Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture (The MIT Press, 2008) edited by Paul D. Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky.
{| class=wikitable ! Year !! Awards !! Category !! Work !! Result |- | rowspan=8 | 2000 | VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards | Visionary Video | | |- | MTV Video Music Awards | Best Male Video | | |- | rowspan=2 | Grammy Awards | Best Alternative Music Performance | Play | |- | Best Rock Instrumental Performance | Bodyrock | |- | rowspan=3 | MTV Europe Music | Best Video | Natural Blues | |- | Best Album | Play | |- | Best Dance | | |- | BRIT Awards | Best International Male | | |- | rowspan=8 | 2001 | MTV Video Music Awards | Best Male Video | | |- | Grammy Awards | Best Dance Recording | Natural Blues | |- | NRJ Music Awards | International Male Artist of the Year | | |- | IFPI Platinum Europe Awards | Album Title | Play | |- | NME Awards | Best Live | | |- | rowspan=3 | My VH1 Music Awards | Best male | | |- | Favorite Video |South Side | |- | Best Collaboration |South Side | |- | rowspan=10 | 2002 | Q Awards | Best Producer | | |- | MTV Video Music Awards | Best Cinematography | | |- | IFPI Platinum Europe Awards | Album Title | Play | |- | BMI Pop Songs Awards | Pop Songs | South Side | |- | BMI Film & TV Awards | Certificate of Achievement | | |- | Grammy Awards | Best Music Video, Long Form | Play | |- | rowspan=2 | MTV Europe Music | Web Awards | | |- | Best Dance | | |- | rowspan=2 | Billboard Music Awards | Electronic Artist of the Year | | |- | Electronic Album of the Year | 18 | |- | rowspan=6 | 2003 | Grammy Awards | Best Pop Instrumental Performance | 18 | |- | MTV Europe Music | Best Dance | | |- | MTV Video Music Japan Music | Best Dance Video | | |- | IFPI Platinum Europe Awards | Album Title | 18 | |- | BRIT Awards | Best International Male | | |- | MTV Asia Awards | Best Male | | |- | 2005 | MTV Europe Music | Best Male | | |- | 2006 | ECHO Awards | International Pop/Rock Male Artist of the Year | | |- | 2009 | Grammy Awards | Best Electronic/Dance Album | Last Night | |}
Category:Living people Category:1965 births Category:Ambient musicians Category:American activists Category:American Christians Category:American bloggers Category:American businesspeople Category:American techno musicians Category:American dance musicians Category:American electronic musicians Category:American house musicians Category:American vegans Category:American libertarians Category:Electronica musicians Category:Musicians from New York Category:People from Manhattan Category:State University of New York at Purchase alumni Category:V2 Records artists Category:Mute Records artists
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
Coordinates | 5°20′0″N103°9′0″N |
---|---|
Name | Gwen Stefani |
Background | solo_singer |
Birth name | Gwen Renée Stefani |
Born | October 03, 1969Anaheim, California, United States |
Instrument | Vocals, guitar born October 3, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and fashion designer. Stefani is the lead vocalist for the rock band No Doubt. Stefani recorded her first solo album Love. Angel. Music. Baby. in 2004. The album was primarily inspired by music of the 1980s, and emerged a success with sales of seven million. Stefani's second solo album, The Sweet Escape (2006), yielded "Wind It Up", "4 in the Morning" and the highest-selling single "The Sweet Escape". Including her work with No Doubt, Stefani has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. She won the World's Best-Selling New Female Artist at the World Music Awards 2005. |
Name | Stefani, Gwen |
Short description | Singer |
Date of birth | October 3, 1969 |
Place of birth | Fullerton, California, United States |
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.