Virgil Moorefield was born in North Carolina and raised in Italy, Germany, and Switzerland. He began his career as a composer, settling in New York after receiving his B.A. and M.A. in 1979 from Columbia University. Moorefield's first album, Transformations, was recorded with his band, Equal Temperament, and released in 1983. His second album, Bhopal, appeared in 1986. He led a nine-piece ensemble (three guitars, two saxophones, trumpet, trombone, bass, and drums) on his 1994 Cuneiform CD, Distractions on the Way to the King's Party.

Moorefield has played guitar with composer Glenn Branca, whose ensemble he played in after 1987, and was drummer for Swans. Moorefield has played with hardcore punk bands K-Martians and Damage. His sound score commissions include extensive work with director Theodora Skiptares. #The History Of Medicine, featuring Moorefield's music, opened at La MaMa Annex in 1994. Moorefield has composed for dancer Maria Cutrona and visual artists Richard Haas and Joseph Nechtavel. He received an Artist-In-Residence grant at the Center For Electronic Music in New York in 1990 as well as a composers grant from Princeton University a few years later. ~ Jim Dorsch, Rovi