Zedd

Anton Zaslavski (Russian: Антон Заславский; born 2 September 1989), better known by his stage name Zedd (pronunciation: /zɛd/), is a Russian-born German record producer, DJ, and musician. He primarily produces electro house music, but has diversified his genre and musical style, 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 peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs, becoming his second song to do so before "I Want You to Know". Zedd won the Grammy award for Best Dance Recording at the 56th Grammy Awards for "Clarity".

Early life

Anton Zaslavski was born in Saratov, Russia. He grew up in Kaiserslautern after his family moved to Germany when Anton was four years old. He is a classically trained musician, born to two musicians. His father Igor Zaslavski is a guitarist and schoolteacher and his mother is a piano instructor. He began playing the piano at the age of four and drums at twelve. He has an elder brother, Arkadi, and a younger brother, Daniel. In 2002, Zaslavski began playing for the German deathcore band Dioramic, signed by Lifeforce Records. Zaslavski's interest in producing electronic music was piqued after hearing † by the French electronic duo Justice.

Career as Zedd

2010–11: Early beginnings

Zaslavski left Dioramic in 2010 to begin a solo career under the name "Zedd" which he has produced a wide variety of remixes and originals. He won two Beatport remix contests in 2010; 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, Periphery and others. 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.

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).

In 2011, his single "Shave It Up" became Zedd's first release on OWSLA records.

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

Zedd at 2013 Moment of Clarity World Tour at the Aragon, Chicago

2012–14: Clarity

In 2012, Zedd signed with Interscope Records and released his debut single from the label, "Spectrum", with vocals by Matthew Koma. It shot to the top of Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs. 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.

On 12 October 2012, Zedd released his debut studio album, Clarity, with "Spectrum" as the album's lead single. "Clarity", featuring British singer-songwriter Foxes, was released on 1 February 2013 as the album's third single. It was a commercial success; it not only charted in the Top 10 of Billboard Hot 100, but also on various international charts. It sold for 2,238,000 copies and certified platinum, making it Zedd's most successful single to date. The song also became #1 most played on American radio in 10 September 2013. Zedd held his first Moment of Clarity World Tour from August to December 2013 in 5 continents.

Zedd worked with Japanese singer, Namie Amuro and produced her promotional single, "Heaven" for her album Feel. Zedd would later work with her again in 2015 for her album, genic, although none of his songs were actually featured in her album.

"Stay the Night", featuring Hayley Williams, was released as a single on 10 September 2013, as part of the deluxe version of Zedd's album. The song met similar success, although it was criticized for its lack of uniqueness and less powerful lyrics compared to "Clarity". It ranked in Billboard Hot 100's Top 20, and certified platinum as well.

In 2013, Zedd produced "Aura", "G.U.Y.", and "Donatella" on Lady Gaga's 2013 album, Artpop. On 26 January 2014, he released the single "Find You" featuring Matthew Koma and Miriam Bryant, which is included on the soundtrack for the film Divergent.

On 3 July 2014, Ariana Grande released a song with Zedd entitled "Break Free", which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at No. 1 on the Hot Dance/Electronic Songs. The song was nominated at the Teen Choice Awards in the category of "Break-Up Song". On 18 December 2014, Moment of Clarity, a documentary about Zedd and his 2013 world tour, was released through his YouTube channel, with Sandra Bullock, Rachel Weisz and Julia Roberts.

2015–present: True Colors

After taking a break of 6 months, Zedd announced the completion and release of his second studio album, True Colors. On 23 February 2015, Zedd released his collaboration featuring Selena Gomez, "I Want You to Know". The song was co-written by Zedd, Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, and KDrew. The song is nominated for "Choice Party Song" at the Teen Choice Awards and made it to #1 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Songs and peaked at #17 on Billboard Hot 100. The song was certified platinum in the U.S. for selling over one million copies.

Zedd released his second single, "Beautiful Now" featuring Jon Bellion, on 13 May 2015, releasing his album 5 days later. The album peaked at number 1 on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Songs, and has ranked at other various international charts. On 17 July, the third single from the album, "Papercut", featuring Troye Sivan, was released.

On 22–23 May, he headlined the Counter Point Music and Arts Festival along with The Roots and Widespread Panic. Along with Eric Prydz, Zedd headlined the first day of 2015 Spring Awakening Festival.

Zedd performed at the 2015 CMT Music Awards with Lady Antebellum. Together, they performed mashup of their songs "Long Stretch of Love" and "Beautiful Now."

Zedd held his second tour, True Colors, from August to November 2015 in Asia, North America and Europe. Zedd was included in the line-up for Coachella 2016. In 2017 he organised a benefit concert for the American Civil Liberties Union, which line up includes Daya, Halsey, Macklemore, Tinashe and Skrillex. The benefit was created in response to President Donald Trump's executive order indefinitely barring "Syrian refugees from entering the United States, suspended all refugee admissions for 120 days and blocked citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries, refugees or otherwise, from entering the United States for 90 days: Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen".

On 26 February 2016, Zedd released the single "Candyman" alongside Aloe Blacc. On 15 July 2016, singer Hailee Steinfeld and producer duo Grey released a song featuring Zedd titled "Starving", which peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Mainstream Top 40 and No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. Zedd released a collaboration with Riot Games for the 2016 League of Legends eSports championship, Worlds, titled "Ignite" on 26 September 2016. He followed up the release of the song with a "Finals Remix" a month later. On 15 December 2016, Zedd released a remix of DJ Snake's hit song "Let Me Love You".On 23 February 2017, Zedd released his collaboration along with Alessia Cara, "Stay" which debuted at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 and 33 on the UK Singles Chart.

Personal life

Zedd became critical and more politically active during the 2016 US election. He threatened to leave the United States if Donald Trump was elected. Upon the election of Trump, Zedd backtracked on his statement and has since decided to stay.

Discography

• Clarity (2012)
• True Colors (2015)

Tours and concerts

• Moment of Clarity World Tour (2013)
• True Colors Tour (2015)

Awards and nominations