deadmau5 (born Joel Thomas Zimmerman; 05.01.1981)
deadmau5 is a Canadian house music producer.
Childhood: deadmau5 was born in Niagara Falls, Ontario. His parents are Nancy, an artist, Rod, a plant worker at General Motors. When he was a teenager, he got his first keyboard and began making music. According to his father, deadmau5's moniker came about after a dead mouse was discovered in his computer and he was thenceforth known as the 'dead mouse guy'.
Musical career: deadmau5 released his debut album 'Get Scraped' in 2005. In 2007, he set up his own record label mau5trap on which he released 'Random Album Title' in 2008, collaborating with Kaskade on his song 'I Remember'. He also collaborated with Kaskade on 'Move for Me' which reached number one on Billboard magazine's Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart. In 2009, he became the best-selling artist on Beatport with over 30,000 downloads. That year, he released his album 'For Lack of a Better Name' which was certified silver and won a Juno Award. It features the songs 'Ghosts 'n' Stuff' and 'Strobe'. In 2010, he was named as the house DJ for the MTV Video Music Awards and performed with Jason Derulo and Travie McCoy. His fifth album, 4×4=12, came out in 2010 and features the songs 'Some Chords', 'Animal Rights' and 'Sofi Needs a Ladder'. 'Some Chords' was used in an episode of 'CSI' in which deadmau5 made a cameo while 'Sofi Needs a Ladder' was used in 'The Hangover Part II'. In 2012, he released 'Album Title Goes Here' on which he collaborated with Chris James and My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way.
Personal life: deadmau5 dated Playboy's Lindsey Evans from 2010 to 2011. He then began dating tattoo artist Kat Von D. Though they briefly split in 2012, they were soon engaged to be married the following year. He currently lives with her in LA. In 2010, he collapsed on stage in Washington DC after suffering from exhaustion and vomiting. His subsequent shows were then cancelled. He caused controversy among DJs in 2008 by slamming their techniques and insisting that he was not a DJ. He later apologised after a backlash from many of his fans. “There are no CDs involved. It’s a technological orgy up there and I try and keep it more my music than anyone else’s. If people come out to see deadmau5 I want them to hear deadmau5 music.”
Biography by Contactmusic.com
![[L-R] Natalie Pack, Tyson Beckford, Simone Holtznagel and Danielle Knudson at Gumball 3000](http://www.contactmusic.com/images/feature-images/gumball-3000-2015-simone-holtznagel-danielle-knudson-natalie-pack-tyson-beckford-wenn-01-636-380.jpg "[L-R] Natalie Pack, Tyson Beckford, Simone Holtznagel and Danielle Knudson at Gumball 3000")
