deadmau5 Biography
Joel Thomas Zimmerman (born January 5, 1981), known professionally as deadmau5 (pronounced "dead-mouse"), is a Canadian electronic music producer and DJ. His musical style mostly includes progressive house and electro house music, though he also produces and DJs other genres of electronic music, including techno under the alias Testpilot. Zimmerman appears and performs with a custom helmet, similar to Daft Punk and later inspiring Marshmello. He has received seven Grammy Award nominations and won four Juno Awards for his songs. Zimmerman has worked with other DJs and producers, such as Wolfgang Gartner, Rob Swire, and Chris Lake. He has also collaborated with Steve Duda as the duo BSOD and the band WTF? with Duda, Tommy Lee and DJ Aero. In 2007, he founded his own record label, Mau5trap. Deadmau5 later formed electronic music supergroups such as Kx5 with Kaskade and Rezzmau5 with Rezz. Zimmerman is currently one of the highest-paid electronic music producers in the world. Zimmerman first gained recognition for his breakthrough 2008 album Random Album Title, which was certified gold in Canada and silver in the United Kingdom. The album included seminal releases "Faxing Berlin", "Not Exactly", and moderate chart hit "I Remember" (with Kaskade). He won a Juno Award for both this album and the song "All U Ever Want" with Billy Newton-Davis. In 2009, his fourth studio album For Lack of a Better Name was released to critical acclaim, featuring "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" (featuring Rob Swire), "Hi Friend" (featuring MC Flipside), and the critically acclaimed "Strobe", the album also winning a Juno award. He released his fifth studio album 4×4=12 in late 2010, supported by singles "Some Chords", "Animal Rights" (with Wolfgang Gartner), "Sofi Needs a Ladder" (featuring Sofi) and "Raise Your Weapon" (featuring Greta Svabo Bech). In 2012, Zimmerman released singles "The Veldt" (featuring Chris James) and "Professional Griefers" (featuring Gerard Way) to commercial success. These sing...