Joel Zimmerman was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario on January 5th in 1981. In 2008 he was the most-selling artist on Beatport with more than 30,000 digital downloads with his singles "Not Exactly," "Faxing Berlin," and "Ghosts N Stuff"[2]
Deadmau5 received two nominations for the Juno Award for Dance Recording of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2008 for a track with Billy Newton-Davis and Melleefresh. He did not win an award for Melleefresh's "After Hours" song, but he won the award for Newton-Davis' "All U Ever Want".[3] On May 1, 2008, Deadmau5 became the most awarded DJ/producer/remixer of the Beatport Music Awards. He was named "Most influential, forward-thinking and relevant person" by Beatport.[4] He was also named "Producer of 2007" by DJ magazine's 2007 Top 100 winner Armin van Buuren,[5] and by runner up Tiësto. [6] In 2008, he placed number 11 in the DJ Mag Top 100 poll, tying Infected Mushroom (2006) for the highest new entry in the poll's history, showing Zimmerman's fast rise to prominence.
In the United States, Deadmau5's collaboration with Kaskade, "Move for Me," reached number one on Billboard's Hot Dance Airplay chart in its September 6, 2008 issue.[7]. In 2009, he was nominated for Grammy Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical ("The Longest Road" (Deadmau5 Remix) by Morgan Page featuring Lissie).
[edit] Controversies
In December 2007 Marcus Schossow and Maor Levi created a project named Deadrat6 as a joke on Deadmau5, claiming his tracks sound alike.[8] A similar faux project was also created under the name of Sinterklaa5.[9]. As a counter-move, Deadmau5 created a track under the artist name "Marcus Fatsow".
The rivalry between Deadmau5 and Schossow escalated at an event in April 2008 in Oslo, where, according to Marcus Schossow, Deadmau5 refused to play at a club if Marcus Schossow was going to play afterwards. This lead to Marcus Schossow being refused entry and made the night a Deadmau5 solo-event.[10]
In an October 2008 interview with the Irish Daily Star Deadmau5 was quoted as follows: “It puts me to fucking sleep to be quite honest, I don’t really see the technical merit in playing two songs at the same speed together and it bores me to fucking tears and hopefully with all due respect to the DJ type that will fucking go the way of the dinosaur id like them to dis-a-fucking-pear. It's so middle man, they’re like fucking lawyers. You need them, but they’re fucking cunts. God bless them they’re my number one customer right so I’m not gonna go diss every fucking DJ. But to say you become this massive up on a podium performer by playing other peoples productions at the same speed as someone else’s productions and fading between the two of them, I don’t get it.”[11]
[edit] Discography Main article: Deadmau5 discography
[edit] Albums 2005: Get Scraped 2008: At Play 2008: Random Album Title
[edit] Recognitions
[edit] Awards Juno Awards 2008 Dance Recording of the Year for "All U Ever Want" with Billy Newton-Davis. Beatport Music Awards 2008 Producer of the Year. 2008 Best Electro House Artist. 2008 Best Progressive House Artist. Best Single of 2008 for "Not Exactly". Third Best Remix of 2008 for Burufunk and Carbon Community's "Community Funk" (Deadmau5 Remix). DJmag.com Top 100 DJs Poll 2008 Highest new entry, voted 11th best DJ.
[edit] Nominations 2008 Dance Recording of the Year for "After Hours" with Melleefresh 2008 Beatport Music Awards Best Remix of 2007, won as Third Best Remix of 2007 for Burufunk and Carbon Community's "Community Funk" (Deadmau5 Remix). 2009 Grammy Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical ("The Longest Road" (Deadmau5 Remix) by Morgan Page featuring Lissie) 2009 Juno Dance Recording of the Year for "Move For Me" with Kaskade 2009 Juno Dance Recording of the Year for "Random Album Title"