- EDM/Electronic DJ/Musician born Anton Zaslavski in 1989 in Saratov Russia, and raised in Kaiserslauten Germany.
- Zaslavski learned piano at the age of 4 and played the drums at 12. His parents were musicians, so he was classically trained. In 2002, he joined an extreme metal band in Germany called Dioramic.
- In 2007, he heard a record by a French electronic duo called Justice, which piqued his interest in EDM music. He left Dioramic in 2010 and began a career in electronic music, using the name Zedd – the British pronunciation of the letter ‘Z’. That year, he won two remix contests sponsored by Beatport, an online electronic music store. In addition to remixes, he started writing and releasing original music. His first composition, The Anthem, was posted to SoundCloud in 2010 and can still be heard there today.
- As Zedd’s popularity grew, he gained credibility with more artists who became open to his remix skills. He has produced remixes for over 20 artists, including Lady Gaga, Black Eyed Peas, Justin Bieber and Fatboy Slim.
- In 2012, he signed with a record label, and his first album, Clarity, was released. The song Clarity, with British artist Foxes on vocals, sold over 3 million downloads, peaking at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and it won a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording in 2014. Another single on the album, Stay the Night, with Hayley Williams (from the band Paramore) on vocals, hit the top 20, and sold over 2 million downloads.
- In 2014, Zedd collaborated with Ariana Grande on Grande’s song Break Free. It was Grande’s first EDM song, and it was a major hit. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and sold over 3 million downloads.
- Zedd released his second studio album, True Colors, in 2015. Prior to its release, he held parties for 50 fans in 10 different cities, previewing a different song from the album at each party. Each party had a different color as its theme. The album hit #2 on the Billboard 200 album chart. Two singles – I Want You To Know (featuring Selena Gomez) and Beautiful Now (featuring Jon Bellion) – became million sellers.
- Zedd is working on his third studio album. Two singles have been released in 2017, and it is likely that they will be included on this album. In February, he released Stay, with Alessia Cara on vocals. It peaked at #11 on the Hot 100 chart, and has already had over 2 million downloads.
- I am a big fan of electronic music, dating back to the 70s. Today’s electronic dance music has lots of foot-tapping beats, thundering bass, and many hooks, but it often lacks much originality. In Zedd’s case, he actually writes songs for real instruments, and then applies electronics to them to turn them into dance hits. I like that. Here is the video for Stay.