Born in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City in 1965, Richard Melville Hall has since become one of the most successful musicians in the United States in the field of electronic music, though he began his musical career as a teenager in a hardcore punk band entitled the Vatican Commandos. After the breakup of the Vatican Commandos he began to experiment with electronic music, which he fell in love with it after realizing it could be just as avant-garde and rebellious as punk rock. His stage name Moby was inspired by the 1851 Herman Melville novel Moby-Dick - the author is a distant relative of Moby’s.

Moby released two full-length albums and two limited edition vinyl recordings between 1985 and 1994 on independent label Instinct Records, while working full time as a house disc jockey in clubs around New York. His career took off with the release of his third album Everything is Wrong on Mute Records in 1995; it was the first of his albums to receive critical appraise, based on the popularity of tracks like "Every Time You Touch Me" and "Feeling So Real". He released his second major album Animal Rights a year later in 1996; the album’s unconventional juxtaposition of punk rock with ambient techno proved unpopular, and his later releases have tended to gravitate toward his earlier sound.

He released his most successful album, Play, in 1999. Play is unique in how it was marketed; all of its tracks have been commercially licensed, meaning that all the songs from the album have appeared in some other form of media such as television commercials or movies. The album was a hit, eventually selling over 2 million copies in the United States alone. His next album, 2002’s 18, was similarly successful, riding on the momentum generated by singles like "We Are All Made of Stars", "In This World", and "Extreme Ways". During this period Moby embarked on a number of nationwide tours, accompanied by such acts as the Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Prodigy.

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