1998–2006: Career beginnings Zimmerman's music career began in the late 1990s and he was heavily influenced by
chiptune music and
demoscene, producing his early work with the program
Impulse Tracker. He briefly worked with an online music licensing company and was a programmer. In 1999, while learning how to use 3D modelling software, Zimmerman created the "mau5head". The logo since has since appeared in many different colors and designs, and is included on the cover art of Zimmerman's albums. In 2000, Zimmerman and Derek Caesar, under the group name
Dred and Karma, released the vinyl singles "I Don't Want No Other" and "Suck This". Zimmerman was hosting a radio show in Niagara Falls, and often stayed at a local record shop's recording studio making music. Zimmerman began uploading songs to SectionZ and producing under the alias "Deadmau5" in 2002. On July 26, 2005, Zimmerman released his debut studio album, titled
Get Scraped. Around the same time, Zimmerman teamed up with producer
Steve Duda to form the
electro house duo
BSOD. Their single "This Is The Hook" released in 2006 and topped the
Beatport Top 100 chart. The duo would go on to release music spontaneously. In 2006, Zimmerman signed to
Play Records and would release various collaborations with
Melleefresh. Zimmerman also self-released two compilation albums, first releasing
Deadmau5 Circa 1998–2002, which consisted of older tracks, and later,
A Little Oblique, which contained new songs.
2006–2008: Breakthrough with Random Album Title In 2006, Zimmerman released his second studio album,
Vexillology, on November 6, 2006, also through Play Records. In 2007, Zimmerman founded his own record label,
Mau5trap, which, along with
Ultra Records and
Ministry of Sound first released the single
Faxing Berlin. Zimmerman was given the idea to wear a helmet based on the "mau5head" by one of his friends,
Jay Gordon of the industrial metal band
Orgy. He wore the helmet for the first time In 2008.
Project 56, a compilation album of earlier music, also officially released in 2008, and that same year, Zimmerman and Play Records parted ways, with Play Records retaining ownership of Zimmerman's earlier releases. The band only has four tracks and rarely performs. In 2008, the album
Random Album Title released. It included
Not Exactly, Faxing Berlin, and saw the first collaboration of Zimmerman and Chicago producer
Kaskade with "
I Remember". "I Remember" became the most popular song on the album, and
Rolling Stone later listed it as one of the 200 greatest dance songs of all time.
Random Album Title was certified gold in Canada, and it received a
Juno Award. Also in 2008, Zimmerman's song with singer
Billy Newton-Davis "All U Ever Want" won a Juno Award. "Ghosts 'n' Stuff", featuring vocals from
Rob Swire of
Pendulum, reached number one on
Billboards Dance/Mix Show Airplay chart, becoming one of their most popular songs. Despite being reluctant to release the track, "
Strobe" was praised by critics and fans, and In 2017,
Billboard Dance listed "Strobe" as Zimmerman's best song of all time on their list of the artist's 20 best tracks.
For Lack of A Better Name went on to win a Juno Award in 2010.
MTV named Zimmerman as the house DJ for the
2010 MTV Video Music Awards and MTV PUSH artist of the week on August 16, 2010. He expressed gratitude towards
Lady Gaga and
David Guetta for bringing dance into the pop music scene and paving the way for him to the mainstream. At the awards, Zimmerman performed with
Jason Derulo and
Travie McCoy. His fifth studio album,
4×4=12, was released on December 7, 2010.
4×4=12 also received a nomination at the
54th Grammy Awards for
Best Dance/Electronica Album, along with "Raise Your Weapon" for best Dance Recording That same year, Zimmerman also released two non-album singles; "
Aural Psynapse" and "HR 8938 Cephei", and was nominated for his third Grammy for a remix of the song "
Rope" by the rock band
Foo Fighters, "Rope" (Deadmau5 Remix). His sixth studio album,
Album Title Goes Here, was released on September 24, 2012. Singles from this album include "
Maths", "
The Veldt" with singer Chris James, "
Professional Griefers" with
Gerard Way of
My Chemical Romance, "
Channel 42" with Wolfgang Gartner and "
Telemiscommunications" with musician
Imogen Heap.
FUSE TV named "Professional Griefers" one of the top 40 songs of 2012, and Rolling Stone named "The Veldt" one of the 50 best songs of 2012.
Album Title Goes Here was nominated for Best Dance/Electronica Album at the
55th Grammy Awards. The same month, Zimmerman left longtime label
Ultra Records and signed with record label
Astralwerks, a famed NYC-based imprint that houses artists such as
Swedish House Mafia,
David Guetta, and
The Chemical Brothers. at the 2014
Gumball 3000 In March 2014, Zimmerman officially launched his techno alias 'Testpilot', releasing "Sunspot (White Space Conflict)". Later that year, Zimmerman announced via his
Twitter account that his seventh studio album was complete. "In other news... I finished my album today," the tweet read. "2 discs. 2 continuous mixes. 25 tracks. and something I'm proud of."
While(1<2) also received a Grammy nomination for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the
57th Annual Grammy Awards. In 2014, Zimmerman was sent a
cease and desist letter by
Ferrari regarding his highly customised
458 Italia: the car, which he dubbed the "Purrari", possessed custom badges and a
Nyan Cat-themed wrap, and the car was later put up for sale on
Craigslist.
2015–2016: Hiatus and W:/2016Album/ 2015 in San Francisco, California On July 23, 2015,
Valve announced that Deadmau5 was creating a series of sound clips to be featured in their video game
Dota 2. The music pack was released alongside the announcement. On August 8, 2015, Deadmau5 performed live at
KeyArena in
Seattle at the conclusion of the
Dota 2 competition
The International 5 (TI5). On October 7, 2015, Deadmau5 officially announced that he was leaving his then label Astralwerks and going entirely independent with his own label Mau5trap. On December 17, 2015, it appeared that Zimmerman was either taking a leave of absence after deleting several of his accounts. On December 21, 2015, Zimmerman reopened his Twitter account and posted an apology to his Tumblr account explaining his disappearance from social media, saying that he was suffering from
depression and would be returning to producing music after the new year. On October 7, 2016, "
Beneath with Me", a collaboration with
Skylar Grey and
Kaskade, was released. On May 27, 2016, "
Snowcone" was released. Snowcone was later revealed to be the first single from his next album. On November 4, 2016, Zimmerman announced his next studio album,
W:/2016Album/, which was released on December 2, 2016 with another single "
Let Go" featuring
Grabbitz 2017–2019: ''Where's the Drop?, Polar soundtrack, and Mau5ville'' with the Cube in 2017 On January 7, 2017, Zimmerman announced a compilation of his earlier work ranging from the years of 1998 to 2007 on Twitter, titled
Stuff I Used to Do. Zimmerman also stated that the compilation would release in February of that year. On February 24, 2017, Zimmerman released a limited version of
Stuff I Used to Do on
WeTransfer. The edition, available until March 3, featured three tracks less than the full album. The album includes tracks from
Get Scraped and early compilations, in addition to an alternative mix of "Creep" from
While(1<2). The album was officially released on
Mau5trap a week later, on March 3, 2017. On August 25, 2017, Zimmerman released a stand-alone single entitled "
Legendary", featuring vocals from rapper
Shotty Horroh. In March 2018, Zimmerman announced a compilation album with Gregory Reveret comprising live orchestral performances of previously released music, titled ''
Where's the Drop?. On March 30, 2018, the album was initially released exclusively on the music streaming service Tidal for a period of three months, and on June 29, 2018, the album was officially released to other platforms. On July 3, 2018, Zimmerman announced an EP and compilation album titled Mau5ville: Level 1, featuring "Monophobia" (his second collaboration with Rob Swire), as well as tracks from Getter and GTA
. It was released on July 13, 2018 through Mau5trap. On September 18, 2018, Zimmerman announced that he was in the process of producing his first ever original film score for the Netflix film Polar directed by Jonas Åkerlund. In October 2018, the track listing of a follow-up EP, Mau5ville: Level 2'', was leaked, showing featured collaborations with
Lights and Mr. Bill, with no release date confirmed at the time. The EP was released officially on November 16, 2018, through Mau5trap. On January 25, 2019,
Polar (2019) premiered on
Netflix, with Zimmerman releasing the soundtrack album,
Polar (Music from the Netflix Film), through Mau5trap. On February 1, 2019, the third installment in the
Mau5ville series,
Mau5ville: Level 3 was released through Mau5trap. The compilation EP featured collaborations with Shotty Horroh, Scene of Action as well as tracks from No Mana and C.O.Z. In November 2019, Zimmerman released three new singles, entitled "Satrn", "Coasted" and "Fall", released on the 16th, 22nd and 29th, respectively.
2020–2024: Kx5 and Some EP in
Pontiac, Michigan in 2021 On May 20, 2020, Zimmerman released the single "Pomegranate", featuring production duo
the Neptunes. In November of that year, he worked with the singer
Kiesza on the track "
Bridged by a Lightwave". On March 29, 2021, Zimmerman released the single "Nextra" on his new "Hau5trap" label. Later that year,
Rezz and Zimmerman collaborated to release the single "Hypnocurrency". Deadmau5 and Rezz subsequently performed together, forming the electronic music supergroup
Rezzmau5. On July 16, Zimmerman and
Lights released the single "When the Summer Dies", and on October 29, 2021, Zimmerman and
Foster The People released the single "Hyperlandia". marking the fourth time the producers have worked together. The first single from the project, "Escape" featuring Hayla, was released on March 11. On July 15, 2022, "My Heart Has Teeth", another collaboration with
Skylar Grey, was featured on the soundtrack for the Netflix series
Resident Evil (2022). In December, Kx5 headlined a performance at the
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The duo's first album, eponymously titled
Kx5, released on March 17. The album featured collaborations with
AR/CO,
Elderbrook,
Sofi, and
The Moth & The Flame. Later that year, Zimmerman and Rezz again collaborated as Rezzmau5 and released "Infraliminal" on October 13, 2023, the track being a remix of "Superliminal" from Zimmerman's 2012 album
Album Title Goes Here. On April 27th, 2024, Zimmerman played his first of three "Retro5pective: 25 Years of Deadmau5" shows at the
Hollywood Bowl. On May 2, 2024, he performed at the
Brooklyn Mirage, and on November 1, 2024, he performed at the
Red Rocks Amphitheatre. The tour focused on Zimmerman's past two decades of discography, featuring performances with mau5heads from previous years of his career, as well as the Cube stage.
Steve Duda,
Tommy Lee,
Meute,
Sofi,
Kiesza, and
Lights were all special guests who appeared in some of the shows. On June 12, 2024, Zimmerman was inducted into the
Canadian Music Hall of Fame. He marked the occasion with a 45-minute fireside chat about his career at the event, reflecting on the start of his career as well as airing light aspirations to perform at the newly opened
Las Vegas Sphere. On November 8, 2024, Zimmerman released another four track EP including the 2007 single 'Jaded'. Later that month, Zimmerman was announced to be signed to
Creative Artists Agency to be represented in all fields. In December 2024, Zimmerman released "Familiars" as part of a collaboration with
World of Tanks Blitz.
2025–present: Error5 and upcoming 2026 album In January 2025, Zimmerman released "Jupiter" alongside a music video, and collaborated with Irish producer Rebūke, releasing "Endless" with vocals by Ed Graves. On March 4, 2025, Zimmerman's discography, including the Mau5trap catalog, was acquired by
Create Music Group. At
Coachella 2025 in April, Zimmerman, performing as Testpilot with electronic music producer and singer
Zhu, was removed from the stage after slurring his speech and falling over. The next morning Zimmerman issued an apology to his Instagram account, commenting it would most likely be his last Coachella. In August 2025, Zimmerman collaborated with
Rocket League,
Fortnite, and
McLaren to introduce Deadmau5 themed cosmetics to both games. The "Error5" EP released coinciding with the collaboration. On October 24, 2025, Zimmerman began releasing singles for his upcoming 2026 album, first releasing "Ameonna", and on February 20, 2026, "
Science", a collaboration with
Stevie Appleton. On February 11th, 2026, Zimmerman posted a statement to social media addressing a
deepfake video, stating that he "woke up to some idiot DJ's Instagram story [...] that depicted me standing there promoting him and his music", noting further that the deepfake was fully
AI generated. Zimmerman released statements to
Rolling Stone and
Billboard Canada endorsing the
No Fakes Act, also backed by his lawyer,
Dina LaPolt, stating that "we need to be in control of our own faces, voices, music, output [...] protections are necessary now more than ever." ==Artistry==