MUMBAI: Joel Thomas Zimmerman aka Deadmau5 – a Canadian progressive-house music producer and performer from Toronto, Ontario, who wears giant mouse ears on stage, is one of the most entertaining EDM artists beyond the now and then controversies on social media. But how he got this name? How did he became such star?.
The turning point of his electronic music was the headlining set at Lollapalooza in 201. Deadmau5 took the genre from the side stages to the main stage, front and centre in many festivals around the world.
1. The stage name happened years ago; Zimmerman found a dead mouse inside his computer while changing the video card, by which he was called as the ‘dead mouse guy’. He embraced the moniker and added 5 instead of the last two alphabets to make it short and crisp. Today the whole world knows him by his stage name Deadmau5.
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2. He is known as a lover of the ‘Nyan Cat’ and has customized his half-a-million dollar car Ferrari 458 Spider with a Nyan Cat wrap.
3. Once he held a contest which allowed fans to design Zimmerman’s next mouse head. Many graphic designers and artists sent their ideas in 2011 for the contest; later Deadmau5 built a partnership with Talenthouse. The winner was the ‘cheesehead’, a yellow mask with holes and indentations designed to look like Swiss cheese, with a white mouth and eyes that lit up. Deadmau5 debuted this design during a performance at New York City’s Roseland Ballroom.
4. Zimmerman was also the first electronic artist to feature on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine.
5. He has five Grammy nominations till date to his credit but has not won even one.
6. He is known for his exchange of words on social media platform; twitter with everyone from Swedish House Mafia, Rusko, Afrojack, Kanye West, Lady Gaga to even Madonna.
7. He also has a series on his Youtube channel called ‘Coffee Run’ where he picks up coffee from Tim Horton’s and interviews celebrities. So far, he has interviewed artists like Zedd, Pharell, Tommy Lee and Russell Peters.
8. He has enjoyed many successful singles which include ‘Professional
Griefers’, ‘Sofi Needs a Ladder”, and ‘Ghosts n’ Stuff”, as well as great honours from fans and critics for his albums, ‘Album Title Goes Here’, and ‘4×4=12’.
9. According to Billboard, he lost 3.2 million Twitter followers since deactivating his Twitter account and apologised to fans on the site.
alright. im going to lay this on the table, as is. do what you will with it. https://t.co/GHPTs81gJB
— deadmau5 (@deadmau5) December 22, 2015
10. On 30th of December, more than five hours before Deadmau5’s set, several of his most dedicated fans tweeted out a picture of themselves dressed in full mau5head garb when they were not allowed for his concert. Deadmau5 spoke to the Reaction’s promoter and helped them get in.
@deadmau5 they won't let us in with our heads. HALP US! #teammau5 pic.twitter.com/ejrO5NAQ5A
— Barksie_ (@BarksAndrew) December 31, 2015
