Deadmau5
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deadmau5 performing at Rock in Rio in Madrid in 2012
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Joel Thomas Zimmerman |
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| Born |
January 5, 1981 Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada |
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| Years active | 1998–present |
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| Website | deadmau5 |
Joel Thomas Zimmerman (born January 5, 1981), better known by his stage name deadmau5 (pronounced "dead mouse"), is a Canadian record producer and DJ from Toronto, Canada. Zimmerman produces a variety of styles within the progressive house genre and sometimes other forms of electronic music. His tracks have been included in numerous compilation albums, such as the 2007 In Search of Sunrise 6: Ibiza CD. The February 2008 issue of Mixmag's music magazine included a free CD which was titled MixMag Presents: The Hottest New Name In Dance! DEADMAU5 Tech-Trance-Electro-Madness, mixed by Zimmerman. Tracks have also been included and presented on Armin van Buuren's A State of Trance radio show. His debut album, Get Scraped, was released in 2005, followed by others in the next few years.
Zimmerman has received six Grammy Award nominations for his work. He has worked with other DJs and producers, such as Kaskade, MC Flipside, Rob Swire and Wolfgang Gartner. On a number of releases, he has partnered with Melleefresh. An early 12" single produced on vinyl titled "I Don't Want No Other" was released by Joel Zimmerman and Derek Caesar under the group name "Dred and Karma". A 2006 album titled deadmau5 Circa 1998-2002 was released using the alias "Halcyon441". He has also collaborated with Steve Duda under the alias, "BSOD", as well as "WTF?" including Duda, Tommy Lee, and DJ Aero. deadmau5 is currently one of the highest paid electronic music producers in the world. Deadmau5 is a masked music artist like Marshmello, Daft Punk, and Buckethead.
Zimmerman was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada. His mother, Nancy (née Johnson), is a visual artist, and his father, Rodney Thomas "Rod" Zimmerman, is a General Motors plant worker. He has two siblings, Jennifer (older) and Chris (younger). His ancestry includes German, Swiss, and English. He received his first keyboard for Christmas when he was a teenager. His music career began in the late 1990s, with a chiptune and demoscene movements-influenced sound with the Impulse Tracker. Zimmerman graduated from Westlane Secondary School in Niagara Falls. He then worked with an online music licensing company and as a programmer. He adopted the name Deadmau5, which referred to a dead mouse he found in his computer.
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