Richard Melville Hall (born 11 September 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter and animal rights activist. He has sold approximately 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic has described him as among the most significant figures in early 1990s dance music, noting his role in bringing the genre to a wider mainstream audience in both the United States and the United Kingdom. After learning guitar and piano at the age of nine, he performed in several underground punk rock bands during the 1980s, including Vatican Commandos, Flipper, and Ultra Vivid Scene, before transitioning to electronic dance music.