Zedd (musician)

Zedd

Zedd at the film premiere of Divergent on 18 March 2014
Background information
Birth name Anton Zaslavski
Born 2 September 1989
Saratov, Soviet Union
Origin Kaiserslautern, Germany[1]
Genres Electro house[2]
Occupation(s)
Years active 2002–present
Labels
Website zedd.net

Anton Zaslavski (Russian: Антон Игоревич Заславский; born 2 September 1989), better known by his stage name Zedd (/ˈzɛd/), is a Russian-German musician, music producer and DJ.[1][3] He primarily produces in the electro house genre,[4] but has branched out, drawing influences from progressive house, dubstep, and classical music. Zedd grew up and began his career in Kaiserslautern, Germany. Zedd's best-known productions to date are the songs "Clarity" featuring Foxes which charted at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number one of the US Hot Dance Club Songs; and "Break Free", a song which has peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, becoming his first song to do so. He also won a Grammy award for Best Dance Recording at the 56th Grammy Awards for "Clarity".[5]

Early life

Anton Zaslavski was born in Russia.[3] He is a classically trained musician, born to two musicians, and began playing the piano at the age of four and drums at twelve.[6][7]

Career

In 2002 Zaslavski began playing for the German band Dioramic, signed by Lifeforce Records. Zaslavski's interest in producing electronic music was piqued after hearing † by French electronic duo Justice.[8] He began producing electronic music in 2009.

Under the name 'Zedd', Zaslavski has produced a wide variety of remixes and originals. He won two Beatport remix contests in 2010;[9] his first original release, "The Anthem", entered the Beatport Electro house chart in the top 20. His remix of Skrillex's "Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites" also entered the Beatport Electro House chart, peaking at number 2. He has since produced remixes of well-known artists, including Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, The Black Eyed Peas, and others.[10] Zaslavski creates his music using the Cubase suite of music production applications, and uses plug-ins such as the Sylenth1, Nexus, SynthMaster 2.6, and Omnisphere synthesizers, and the Kontakt sampler.[11]

In 2011, Zedd's remix of Lady Gaga's track "Born This Way" appeared on the special edition of her third studio album, Born This Way (2011).[12] In September, Zedd's single "Shave It Up" premiered as a thirty-second teaser on Skrillex's YouTube page, this being Zedd's first release on OWSLA records.

From left: Porter Robinson, Zedd, and Skrillex performing at SXSW on March 16, 2012.

In 2012, Zedd signed with Interscope Records and released his debut single from the label, "Spectrum", with vocals by Matthew Koma.[13] He then produced the Eva Simons song, "I Don't Like You", which was also released on Interscope. He also produced and co-wrote the third single "Beauty and a Beat" with Max Martin for Justin Bieber's third studio album, Believe.[14]

In 2013, Zedd produced three songs on Lady Gaga's 2013 album, Artpop.[15] He also produced "Heaven" from Namie Amuro's album Feel.[16]

On 26 January 2014, Zedd released the single "Find You" featuring Matthew Koma and Miriam Bryant, which is included on the soundtrack for the film Divergent.[17] On 3 July 2014, Ariana Grande released a song with Zedd entitled "Break Free",[18] which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 1 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs.[19] The song was nominated at the Teen Choice Awards in the category of "Break-Up Song".[20]

On February 23, 2015, Zedd released his collaboration with Selena Gomez, titled "I Want You to Know".[21] The song is cowritten by Zedd, Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, and KDrew.[22][23]

It was announced on April 8, 2015 that Japanese singer Namie Amuro would release an album entitled Genic. It was then also revealed that Zedd would produce music on the album for the singer, making it the second time Zedd has worked with Amuro on music since 2013 when he produced "Heaven" from her album Feel.[24]

Zedd will release his second studio album, True Colors, on May 19, 2015.[25]

Discography

Main article: Zedd discography

Awards and nominations

Year Ceremony Recipient Category Result
2013 MTV Video Music Awards "Clarity" (feat. Foxes) Artist To Watch Nominated[26]
American Music Awards Zedd Favorite Electronic Music Artist Nominated[27]
2014 Grammy Awards "Clarity" (feat. Foxes) Best Dance Recording Won[28]
iHeartRadio Music Awards "Clarity" EDM Song of the Year Nominated
Billboard Music Awards Zedd Top Dance/Electronic Artist Nominated[29]
"Clarity" Top Dance/Electronic Song Nominated[29]
Clarity Top Dance/Electronic Album Nominated[29]
Teen Choice Awards Zedd Choice Music – Electronic Dance Music Artist Nominated[30]
MTV Video Music Awards "Stay the Night" MTV Clubland Award Won[31]
MTV Europe Music Awards Zedd Best Push Act Nominated[32]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Heaney, Gregory. "Allmusic: Zedd (Biography)". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  2. ↑ "Biography". zedd.net (Official site). Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 O'Malley Greenburg, Zach (14 August 2013). "Zedd Ahead: Meet The Next Big Star Of Electronic Music". Forbes. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  4. ↑ "ELR™ Exclusive Interview w/ Zedd &#124". Easyloverecords.com. 19 November 2010. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  5. ↑ "Zedd & Cedric Gervais Take Home First Grammys". Billboardy. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  6. ↑ "Zedd Exclusive Interview". The Worst Guy. 23 December 2011. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  7. ↑ "Zedd – ‘The important point of the actual music is being neglected a bit’". Upcoming-Soon. 5 June 2011. Archived from the original on 13 March 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  8. ↑ "An Early Christmas Gift! An Interview with Zedd. « 310 Electro". 310electro.com. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
  9. ↑ Brown, Hayley (23 July 2014). "Beatport's New President Lloyd Starr on Download Farms, What EDM Even Is". Billboard. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  10. ↑ Lee, Christina (2 August 2014). "MAGIC!’s "Rude" Gets Remixed By Zedd At Lollapalooza". Idolator. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  11. ↑ Abascal, Lina (1 December 2012). "In The Studio With Zedd: Going for Clarity". DJ Times. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  12. ↑ Daw, Robbie (21 October 2011). "Lady Gaga’s ‘Born This Way: The Remix’ & ‘The Collection’ Covers Revealed". Idolator. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  13. ↑ "Zedd Bio, Music, News & Shows". DJZ.com. Retrieved 11 March 2013.
  14. ↑ Vena, Jocelyn. "Justin Bieber Didn't 'Convince' 'Beauty And A Beat' Producer Zedd At First". MTV. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  15. ↑ "Lady Gaga Has 'A Lot Of Work Left' On ARTPOP Songs". MTV. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  16. ↑ St. Michel, Patrick (14 August 2013). "Namie Amuro "Feel"". The Japan Times. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  17. ↑ Rigby, Sam (18 March 2014). "Zedd premieres Divergent music video for 'Find You'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
  18. ↑ Lipshutz, Jason (23 June 2014). "Ariana Grande's 'Break Free': Zedd Discusses The 'Problem' Follow-Up". Billboard. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  19. ↑ Trust, Gary. "Ariana Grande, Iggy Azalea Triple Up In Hot 100's Top 10, MAGIC! Still No. 1". Billboard. Retrieved 20 August 2014.
  20. ↑ "2014 Teen Choice Awards Nominees Announced".
  21. ↑ "Zedd And Selena Gomez Release Highly Anticipated Single I Want You To Know".
  22. ↑ ""Selena did a bang-up job. She killed it," says Tedder of the hotly anticipated new track.". Billboard. 2015-02-08.
  23. ↑ "Written-By – Anton Zaslavski, Kevin Nicholas Drew, Ryan Tedder". Discogs. 2015-02-27.
  24. ↑ "安室奈美恵 NEW ALBUM「_genic」 SPECIAL WEBSITE".
  25. ↑ "Zedd Announces Album Release Date".
  26. ↑ "2013 Video Music Award Nominations: Get The Full List!". MTV. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  27. ↑ "‘American Music Awards’ 2013 nominees, winners – complete list".
  28. ↑ "Grammy Awards 2014 Nominations, Dance Genre".
  29. ↑ 29.0 29.1 29.2 "2014 Winners". Billboard Music Awards. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  30. ↑ Malec, Brett (17 June 2014). "Teen Choice 2014 Nominees: Vampire Diaries and Pretty Little Liars Lead, Catching Fire Comes in Second". E! Online. NBC Universal. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  31. ↑ Frith, Vanessa (25 August 2014). "MTV VMAs 2014 'Clubland' Winner Is Zedd For 'Stay The Night'". ENSTARS. Retrieved 25 August 2014.
  32. ↑ "MTV EMAs 2014: Katy Perry sieben, Ariana Grande sechs Mal nominiert". Musikmarkt (in German). 17 September 2014. Retrieved 18 September 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Zedd.