• Sep. 11, 1965
• Moby is an animal rights advocate who became a vegan in 1987, back when most people didn't know what that was (a diet and lifestyle with no animal products). He directed the 2023 documentary Punk Rock Vegan Movie, which looks at the connection between punk rock and veganism.
• When he couldn't get his songs on the radio, he started licensing them for commercials to get them exposure. His album Play is the first to have every song used in commercials. The ads gave the album a huge boost in sales.
• His real name is Richard Melville Hall. His parents nicknamed him Moby and told him he's the great-great-great grandnephew of Herman Melville, who wrote Moby Dick.
• He battled alcoholism for much of the '90s and '00s. In Moby Doc, the 2021 documentary about his life, he explains how it was so bad, he missed his mother's funeral in 1996 because he slept through it.
• He created the Area:One tour in 2001, featuring different styles of music made up of bands he likes, including Incubus, Outkast, and Nelly Furtado. He kept the ticket prices down by working with sponsors, which he was good at from licensing his songs in commercials.
• His prize possession is a drawing of Homer Simpson's head signed by Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Dan - West Hartford, CT
• Moby is known for electronic music, but he used to be in a thrash-punk band called the Vatican Commandos. >>

  Suggestion credit:
  Adam - Dewsbury, England
• For a time Moby's tour rider stipulated that concert promoters had to buy him underwear, a request that's surprisingly common.
• Moby grew up an only child to a single mother after his father died in a drunk-driving accident when he was 2 years old.
• His mother died of cancer in 1998 a year before Moby's hit album Play was released. He recalled to NME in 2018 how a night of heavy drinking left him hungover and too incapacitated to attend her funeral: "Unsurprisingly, I'm sober now," Moby said. "It's clearly a sign that things aren't working out when you sleep through your mom's funeral."
• Moby used to own Marlon Brando's old house, an eight-bedroom replica of a Norman castle dubbed Wolf's Lair. Built in 1927 for Milton Wolf, a Hollywood developer and art director, it has also been inhabited by Debbie Reynolds and The Beatles.
• The first single Moby ever bought was a 7-inch of the song "Convoy" by C.W. McCall from a discount store called Bradley's.
  
  "I took it home, and I'm not kidding - I listened to it 40 times in a row, to the point where my mother was concerned," he told Billboard. "After the first 10 times she was like, 'This is kind of cute.' After 20 she was like, 'You're still listening to the song.' I wondered if at that point she might have figured out I was going to be both a musician and a drug addict."
• Moby has written two memoirs. The first, which covers his life and career up to the release of Play, was published in 2016 and titled Porcelain after his Play track. His second, in 2019, Then It Fell Apart, took its title from a line in "Extreme Ways" from the album 18.

Comments: 8

• Sally from Shavertown, PaActually, he does drink occasionally. On his website, he expressed mild frustration at the rumors that he is a tetotiler
• Kara from Nyc, NyHe was rumored to have dated Natalie Portman in 2001. He said they were friends.
• Tom from Trowbridge, EnglandThat was sarcasm by the way.
• Tom from Trowbridge, EnglandSo, Moby's a vegan and he doesn't drink. Rock on!
• Scott Evans from Bradford, FinlandMoby also records under the name of 'Voodoo Child'. The album 'Animal Rights' was recorded under this moniker. The video for 'South Side' with Gwen Stefani was shot a year after its initial recording.
• Marlow from Perth, Australiaits a shame for a NYC local to share his birthday with the trajedy of sept 11..
• Jon from Grand Forks, NdNo cheese or milk?!? What happens to the poor cow that can't expunge the product? This guy is cruel
• Erik from Davis, CaHas his own Vegan-oriented market in the NYC area.
  

More Songfacts:

Everything ZenBush

After Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale coupled up in 1996, Rossdale's Bush bandmates referred to their hit song "Everything Zen" as "Everything Gwen."

Watching The DetectivesElvis Costello

Lyrically, Elvis Costello's "Watching The Detectives" was inspired by American detective shows; musically, it was inspired by The Clash.

Enter SandmanMetallica

The original "Enter Sandman" lyric was about crib death, with the "sandman" killing a baby.

That Don't Impress Me MuchShania Twain

Brad Pitt and Elvis both get mentions in the 1997 Shania Twain hit "That Don't Impress Me Much."

White as SnowU2

Bono came up with the idea of focusing on a soldier's last thoughts as he dies from his wounds in the U2 song "White As Snow" after reading William Golding's 1956 novel Pincher Martin.

Lady MarmaladeLabelle

"Lady Marmalade" is the only song to hit #1 twice in both the UK and US.

Editor's Picks

We Will Rock You (To Sleep): Pop Stars Who Recorded Kids' AlbumsSong Writing

With the rise of Kindie rock, more musicians are embracing their inner child with tunes for tots - here, we look at pop stars who recorded kids' albums.

Creedence Clearwater RevivalFact or Fiction

Is "Have You Ever Seen the Rain" about Vietnam? Was John Fogerty really born on a Bayou? It's the CCR edition of Fact or Fiction.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."

Songs Discussed in MoviesSong Writing

Bridesmaids, Reservoir Dogs, Willy Wonka - just a few of the flicks where characters discuss specific songs, sometimes as a prelude to murder.

Susanna Hoffs - "Eternal Flame"They're Playing My Song

The Prince-penned "Manic Monday" was the first song The Bangles heard coming from a car radio, but "Eternal Flame" is closest to Susanna's heart, perhaps because she sang it in "various states of undress."

P.F. SloanSongwriter Interviews

P.F. was a teenager writing hits and playing on tracks for Jan & Dean when he wrote a #1 hit that got him blackballed.