Deadmau5, the Canadian electronic DJ/dance artist and record producer, is a true master of his craft. With his exceptional skills in electronics, he effortlessly showcases a wide range of styles in his music, exploring various forms of electronic music. Collaborating with renowned DJs and producers, he has released numerous successful tracks. Recognized for his iconic helmet and captivating live performances, deadmau5 has been nominated for the Grammy Awards six times. His journey began with the creation of a buzz for his unique brand of electronic music on the indie dance site ‘Beatport’, leading to his works being featured in compilation albums and DJ playlists. Establishing his online presence through ‘deadmau5.com’ and SectionZ, he has been sharing his music since 2002. Despite his fame, this dance-music superstar describes himself as an unsocial individual with a “huge anxiety disorder”, finding solace in solitude. Known for his dance music hits like ‘Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff,’ ‘I Remember,’ and ‘Strobe’, deadmau5 has fearlessly explored the entire electronic spectrum. Despite his success, he remains incredibly humble and loyal, always striving to give his best to his fans.
Quick Facts
- Name: Joel Thomas Zimmerman
- Age: 42 Years
- Gender: Male
- Nationality: Canadian
- Occupation: DJ, Record Producer
- Height: 5’9″ (175 cm)
- Ancestry: Swiss Canadian, German Canadian, English Canadian
- Founder/Co-Founder: Mau5trap
- Spouse/Ex-Spouse: Kat Von D
- Father: Rodney Thomas Zimmerman
- Mother: Nancy Zimmerman
- Siblings: Chris Zimmerman, Jennifer Zimmerman
Childhood & Early Life
Deadmau5 was born as Joel Thomas Zimmerman on January 5, 1981 in Ontario, Canada to Nancy, who is a visual artist, and Rodney Thomas Zimmerman, a General Motors plant worker. His older sister is Jennifer, and younger brother is Chris. He graduated from Westlane Secondary School in Ontario. He received his first keyboard as a Christmas gift when he was a teenager.
Career
Deadmau5 started his career in animation and web designing. Later, he entered the music world as a DJ, touring Europe and South America for gigs with his own limited resources. He also worked with an online music licensing company as a programmer. He adopted the name deadmau5, as he found a dead mouse in his computer when he was a teen.
His debut studio album ‘Get Scraped’, released on July 26, 2005, represented his early musical style. The album had two different releases—a limited CD release and a demo CD release. Two tracks ‘FlashTV’ and ‘Messages from Nowhere’ were removed from the digital release. He re-released ‘Messages from Nowhere’ on his compilation album ‘Stuff i used to do’ in 2017.
Play Digital released his second studio album ‘Vexillology’ on November 6, 2006. It was re-released on May 11, 2015 by Play Records.
‘Project 56,’ a compilation album, was released on February 19, 2008. The album had some tracks that had also been featured on the ‘Get Scraped’ album. These tracks were ‘Bored of Canada’, ‘Nice Try Kiddo’, ‘I Forget’, and ‘Just Before 8bit’.
In the US, he collaborated with DJ and record producer Kaskade for the single ‘Move for Me’, which reached No. 1 on Billboard magazine’s Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart. He also collaborated with Kaskade for ‘I Remember’ and with Rob Swire for ‘Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff’, and both reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart.
He started his own record label, mau5trap, in 2007. Mau5trap, along with Ministry of Sound and Ultra Records, released ‘Random Album Title’, his third studio album, on September 2, 2008. It was his breakthrough album that included the popular singles ‘Faxing Berlin’, ‘I Remember’, and ‘Not Exactly’. The album peaked at No. 31 in the UK Top 75 Albums chart. ‘Random Album Title’ also had a digital release in the US, Europe, and the UK.
Ultra Records and mau5trap released his fourth studio album, ‘For Lack of a Better Name’, in the US and Canada on September 22, 2009. Virgin Records released it internationally on October 5, 2009. The album features the single ‘Hi Friend!’, a collaboration with MC Flipside, and ‘Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff’ a collaboration with Rob Swire. It also includes the song ‘Strobe’, which was critically acclaimed.
His fifth studio album ‘4×4=12’ was released internationally on December 6, 2010. The album’s title refers to a miscalculation deadmau5 had made on his Ustream channel. The album featured popular singles like ‘Animal Rights’, ‘Some Chords’, ‘Sofi Needs a Ladder’, and ‘Raise Your Weapon’. In 2011, he released two non-album singles ‘Aural Psynapse’ and ‘HR 8938 Cephei’.
His sixth studio album ‘> album title goes here <’ was released on September 21, 2012. It included five singles, ‘Maths’, ‘Professional Griefers’, ‘The Veldt’, ‘Channel 42’ and ‘Telemiscommunications’.
In November 2013, deadmau5 removed three years worth of music from his SoundCloud account, and uploaded an EP of seven piano sonatas titled ‘7’. In the same month, he left Ultra Records and signed with Astralwerks.
His seventh studio album ‘while1<2’ was released on June 17, 2014 by mau5trap and Astralwerks in the US and Canada and by Virgin EMI Records internationally. Four singles from the album—‘Avaritia’, ‘Infra Turbo Pigcart Racer’, ‘Seeya’, and ‘Phantoms Can’t Hang’, were released before the album. In the same year, he was also featured in ‘Goat Simulator,’ a video game. His music has also been included in some video game titles.
In October 2015 he left Astralwerks. In December he announced that he may end his career as deadmau5, and start something new. He even deleted his Twitter and Facebook accounts. However, after a few days, he reopened his Twitter account and apologized to his fans, stating that he was suffering from depression, and would return to music after the New Year.
On May 27, 2016, the single ‘Snowcone’, was released as a digital download. His eighth studio album ‘W:/2016ALBUM/’was released on December 2, 2016, and it included several tracks.
In early 2017, he released a compilation of his earlier works from 1998 to 2007, titled ‘Stuff i used to do.’ The limited version of the album featured 13 tracks instead of the 16 he had announced earlier. Some of these tracks were ‘Messages From Nowhere’, ‘HaxPigMeow’, ‘Long Walk Off a Short Pier’, and ‘Creep’.
Major Works
His single ‘Move for Me’ reached No. 1 on Billboard magazine’s Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart. The singles ‘I Remember’ and ‘Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff’, also reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart. His albums ‘For Lack of a Better Name’ and ‘4×4=12’ were critically acclaimed.
Awards & Achievements
Deadmau5 won the Beatport Music Awards for Best Electro House Artist and Best Progressive House Artist in 2008 and 2009. He has won the Juno Awards thrice. He bagged DJ Award for Best Electro House DJ in 2008, 2010, and 2011. He won the International Dance Music Awards thrice and was nominated for Grammy Awards six times.
Personal Life & Legacy
Deadmau5 got engaged to tattoo artist Kat Von D in December 2012, but they called it quits in June 2013. In March 2014, the Walt Disney Company requested the US Patent and Trademark Office to investigate deadmau5’s application to register mau5head emblem as a trademark, as it resembles the figure of Mickey Mouse. Disney stated that the logo creates confusion as it is “nearly identical in appearance, connotation, and overall commercial impression.” In 2014, deadmau5 purchased a $5 million worth house in Campbellville area of Milton, Ontario. He is a video game enthusiast, and whenever he wants to take a break from work, he plays video games to relax his mind.