Zedd

Zedd in 2013, photo by Prphotos.com

Birth Name: Anton Zaslavski

Place of Birth: Saratov, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union (now Russia)

Date of Birth: 2 September, 1989

Ethnicity: Russian Jewish

Zedd is a Russian-born German record producer, DJ, musician, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He is a Grammy Award-winner. His songs include “Clarity,” “Stay the Night,” “I Want You to Know,” “Stay,” and “The Middle,” a co-credit on the remix “Lost in Japan,” and as a featured artist on “Break Free” and “Starving.”

Zedd was born in Saratov, Russia, then in the USSR, to musicians, Marina Vladimirovna Zaslavskaya and Igor Zaslavski. He moved with his family to Germany when he was three. He grew up in Dansenberg, Kaiserslautern, there. Zedd speaks fluent Russian, German, English, and a little French. His stage name is from the English pronunciation of the letter “Z.”

Zedd has said:

I grew up in Germany and my family is Jewish. Trust me. I know what a dictator is.

Most Russians who live in present-day Germany are of Jewish or ethnic German background.

He is a classically trained musician, and began playing the piano and drums at four. In 2002, he joined the German band Dioramic, signed by Lifeforce Records. His interest in producing electronic music was piqued after hearing † by French electronic duo Justice. He began producing electronic music in 2009.

One of Zedd’s grandmothers’ names is Margarita.