Joel Thomas Zimmerman

Joel Thomas Zimmerman (born January 5, 1981), better known by his stage name deadmau5 (pronounced "dead mouse"), is a Canadian progressive-house music producer and performer from Toronto, Ontario.

Zimmerman produces a variety of styles within the house genre and sometimes other forms of electronic dance 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.

As well as his own solo releases, Zimmerman has worked alongside other DJs and producers, such as Kaskade, MC Flipside, Rob Swire of Knife Party and Pendulum, Wolfgang Gartner, Bighorse, and on a number of releases, Zimmerman has partnered with Melleefresh. The release date is currently unknown, but an early 12" single produced on vinyl titled "I Don't Want No Other" was released by Joel Zimmerman under the alias "Dred And Karma".[2] The 2006 album titled Deadmau5 Circa 1998–2002 was released using the alias "Halcyon441" and the collaboration with Joel Zimmerman and Steve Duda was under the alias "BSOD" (which stands for "Blue Screen of Death").

Early life

Zimmerman was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario.[4] His mother, Nancy (née Johnson), is a visual artist, and his father, Rodney Thomas "Rod" Zimmerman, is a General Motors plant worker.[5][6] He has two siblings, Jennifer (older) and Chris (younger).[5] His ancestry includes German, Swiss, and English.[6][7] He received his first keyboard for Christmas when he was a teenager.[5][8] His career began in the mid 1990s, with a chiptune and demoscene movements-influenced sound.

In late 2012, an old demo track by Zimmerman from 1995 called "Can't Remember The Name" resurfaced on YouTube.[9]

Career

deadmau5 logo

2005-2006: Get Scraped and self-released compilations

Zimmerman released his debut studio album, titled Get Scraped on July 26, 2005. The tracks "Just Before 8bit", "Nice Try, Kiddo" and "Uploading and Downloading" from Project 56 were edited and expanded upon in Get Scraped under the names "8bit", "Try Again", and "Unspecial Effects", respectively. Tracks "Bored of Canada", "Intelstat" and "I Forget" reappear on this album as is, as well as "The Oshawa Connection" from deadmau5 Circa 1998–2002.

Three self-released compilations, Project 56, deadmau5 Circa 1998-2002, and A Little Oblique, were finished in 2006,[10] with Project 56 seeing an official release in February 2008.

2007–2008: Mau5trap label and Random Album Title

In 2007, Zimmerman began his own record label "mau5trap", which, along with Ultra Records and Ministry of Sound, released the 2008 album Random Album Title, which saw the collaboration of Zimmerman and San Francisco producer Kaskade with "I Remember". Random Album Title, saw a digital release in September 2008 via Ultra Records in the United States and Ministry of Sound in the United Kingdom and Europe. Physical copies of the album were released in November 2008.[11]

In the United States, Zimmerman's collaboration with Kaskade, "Move for Me", reached number one on Billboard magazine's Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart in its September 6, 2008 issue.[12] Since then, Zimmerman has seen two more tracks, also collaborations ("I Remember" with Kaskade & "Ghosts 'n' Stuff" with Rob Swire), reach number one on Billboard's Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, making him the only Canadian to have three number-one tracks on that chart. He is also the fifth Canadian to top that chart, following Deborah Cox, Nelly Furtado, Dragonette, and Justin Bieber, each with one apiece.

2009–2010: For Lack of a Better Name and 4x4=12

On September 22, 2009, Ultra Records released his album For Lack of a Better Name in the United States, and October 5 internationally.[13] On a subsequent tour in the fall of 2009, Zimmerman's performances were recorded and made available for sale immediately following the concerts on USB wristband flash drives.[14] For Lack of a Better Name includes two of Zimmerman's most popular

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