Zedd

A dance Grammy winner who pushed electro house to mainstream radio

Clarity, featuring Foxes, was not just another single from the EDM cycle of the early 2010s: it reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, was certified platinum, and won the award for Best Dance Recording at the 56th Grammy Awards. Zedd, a Russian-German producer raised in Kaiserslautern, had turned jagged-synth electro house into radio songs without losing the club pulse.

Classical piano, metalcore, and Beatport contests

The son of musicians, he started piano at age four and drums at twelve. Between 2002 and 2012, he played in Dioramic, a German metalcore band that signed with Lifeforce Records. The electronic turn came in 2009, after listening to Cross by Justice. The alias comes from zed, the English pronunciation of the 'z' in his last name. In 2010, he won two remix contests on Beatport and his original track The Anthem entered the top 20 of the Electro House chart. His remix of Scary Monsters and Nice Sprites by Skrillex opened the door to OWSLA: Shave It, Slam the Door, and Shotgun defined his first stage. He also remixed Born This Way by Lady Gaga.

Interscope, Clarity, and club pop

In 2012, he signed with Interscope Records, left Dioramic, and released Spectrum with Matthew Koma, which hit number 1 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart. The album Clarity (October 2012) and, on the deluxe edition, Stay the Night with Hayley Williams, launched his first world tour across five continents. He produced tracks for Lady Gaga's Artpop, co-wrote Beauty and a Beat for Justin Bieber, and reached number 4 on the Hot 100 with Break Free alongside Ariana Grande.

True Colors, The Middle, and the Las Vegas residency

True Colors (2015) focused on choirs and collaborations: I Want You to Know with Selena Gomez topped the dance charts; followed by Beautiful Now, with Jon Bellion, and Papercut, with Troye Sivan. The True Colors tour traveled through Asia, North America, and Europe. He headlined Coachella, Ultra, EDC, and Lollapalooza. In 2016, he signed Ignite for the League of Legends Worlds. Stay with Alessia Cara (2017) and, above all, The Middle with Maren Morris and Grey (2018)—number 5 on the Hot 100, seven weeks at the top of Top 40 radio, and three Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year—made him as much of a mainstream radio name as a mainstage act. In 2021, he debuted a residency at Zouk Nightclub in Las Vegas.

Telos and a festival with his signature

On August 30, 2024, nine years later, he released Telos on Interscope: ten tracks featuring John Mayer, Muse, Remi Wolf, Bea Miller, the olllam, and the posthumous voice of Jeff Buckley. The album, more organic and orchestral, was nominated for Best Dance/Electronic Album at the 67th Grammy Awards. He also signed the opening and closing themes for Dragon Ball Daima. His festival Zedd in the Park, born in Los Angeles in 2018, expanded in 2026 to Randall's Island in New York.