Daniel James Platzman (born September 28, 1986) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer and composer. He is best known as the former drummer for the

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

band

Imagine Dragons Imagine Dragons are an American pop rock band formed in 2008, based in Las Vegas, Nevada. The band currently consists of lead singer Dan Reynolds, guitarist Wayne Sermon, and bassist Ben McKee. They first gained exposure with the release of ...

Early life

Platzman was born on September 28, 1986, in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, Georgia. He attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

where he earned a degree in film scoring. While at Berklee, Platzman played in the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra, the Urban Outreach Jazz Orchestra and the Berklee Rainbow Big Band, and received the Vic Firth Award for Outstanding Musicianship and the Michael Rendish Award in Film Scoring. He also played in a guitar performance ensemble with future Imagine Dragons bandmates

Wayne Sermon Daniel Wayne Sermon (born June 15, 1984) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is the lead guitarist for the pop rock band Imagine Dragons. Early life Sermon was born on June 15, 1984, in American Fork, Utah, to parents ...

and

Ben McKee Benjamin Arthur McKee (born April 7, 1985) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is the bassist for the pop rock band Imagine Dragons. Early life McKee was raised in Forestville, California, and graduated from El Molino ...

Career

Imagine Dragons

In 2011, Platzman was invited by Wayne Sermon to join Imagine Dragons, based out of Las Vegas. McKee dropped out of his final semester at Berklee to join the band, inviting Daniel Platzman to play drums, completing the lineup. The band proceeded to earn a number of local accolades including "Best CD of 2011" (Vegas SEVEN), "Best Local Indie Band 2010" (

Las Vegas Weekly ''Las Vegas Weekly'' is a free alternative weekly newspaper based in Henderson, Nevada Henderson is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States, about southeast of downtown Las Vegas. It is the List of cities in Nevada, 2nd most populous ...

), "Las Vegas' Newest Must See Live Act" (

Las Vegas CityLife ''Las Vegas CityLife'' was an American Alternative newspaper, alternative weekly newspaper founded in August 1996. It was the oldest such newspaper in Southern Nevada and covered news about the Las Vegas Valley and surrounding areas. Coverage inc ...

), and more sent the band on a positive trajectory. In November 2011 they signed with

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label based in Santa Monica, California, owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture ...

and began working with producer

Alex da Kid Alexander Junior Grant (born 27 August 1983), professionally known as Alex da Kid or by.ALEXANDER, is a British music producer from Wood Green, London. He has gained recognition for producing several hit singles for artists of multiple music g ...

. In 2012, their debut album ''

Night Visions ''Night Visions'' is the debut studio album by American pop rock band Imagine Dragons. It was released on September 4, 2012, through Kidinakorner and Interscope Records. The album was primarily produced by the band themselves, as well as Engli ...

'' brought the band mainstream success. It reached #2 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart and won the

Billboard Music Award The ''Billboard'' Music Awards are honors given out annually by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'', a publication covering the music business and a Billboard charts, music popularity chart. The ''Billboard'' Music Awards show has been held annu ...

for Best Rock Album (2014). Single " It's Time" became the band's first single reaching #15 Billboard Hot 100 and certified multi-platinum by the RIAA. Second single "

Radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

" reached #3 Billboard Hot 100 and was certified diamond by the RIAA, becoming the best selling rock song in the history of

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate Data, LLC (formerly MRC Data and P-MRC Data) is a provider of music and entertainment data. Established as a joint-venture in 2020, it brought together Nielsen Music, Alpha Data (formerly BuzzAngle Music) and Variety Business Intellige ...

. Third single "

Demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including fiction, comics, film, t ...

" reached #6 Billboard Hot 100 and was certified multi-platinum by the RIAA. Their album made the highest debut for a new rock band in six years (since 2006) and single Radioactive set a new record for longest time atop the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart with 23 consecutive weeks. Tracks from the album topped the Billboard Rock Songs, Billboard Alternative Songs, and Billboard Pop Songs charts. Radioactive was also nominated for two

Grammy Awards The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious a ...

, winning the

Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 54th Grammy Awards description guide it is designed for ...

. In 2015, Imagine Dragons' second album ''

Smoke + Mirrors ''Smoke + Mirrors'' is the second studio album by American pop rock band Imagine Dragons. The album was recorded during 2014 at the band's home studio in Las Vegas, Nevada. Self-produced by members of the band along with English hip-hop produce ...

'' reached #1 on the ''Billboard'' 200,

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, and

Canadian Albums Chart The ''Billboard'' Canadian Albums is the official record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given ...

. It features singles " I Bet My Life", " Shots" and "

Gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

". The band has contributed songs to several film soundtracks, including "Ready Aim Fire" for ''

Iron Man 3 ''Iron Man 3'' is a 2013 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Iron Man, produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the sequel to ''Iron Man (2008 film), Iron Man'' (2008) an ...

'', "Who We Are" for '' The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'', "

Battle Cry A battle cry or war cry is a yell or chant taken up in battle, usually by members of the same combatant group. Battle cries are not necessarily articulate (e.g. "Eulaliaaaa!", "Alala"..), although they often aim to invoke patriotic or religio ...

" for '' Transformers: Age of Extinction'' and " Not Today" for '' Me Before You''. In addition, in September 2014, "

Warriors A warrior is a guardian specializing in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based warrior culture society that recognizes a separate warrior aristocracy, class, or caste. History Warriors seem to have been p ...

" was released by

Riot Games Riot Games, Inc. is an American video game developer, publisher, and esports tournament organizer based in Los Angeles. It was founded in September 2006 by Brandon Beck and Marc Merrill to develop ''League of Legends'' and went on to develop ...

along with an animated music video promoting the League of Legends World Championships. Platzman appeared on the cover of ''

Drum! ''Drum!'' is an American educational drumming magazine. It features artist profiles, product reviews, lessons and advanced transcriptions covering rock, pop and related styles of music. The magazine was launched in 1991 with Andy Doerschuk as ed ...

'' magazine's March 2015 issue. Two months later he was profiled again in ''Drum!''. On March 3, 2023, Platzman released his first single as a solo artist, titled "Show Me That You Want Me", accompanied with a music video. Platzman announced his permanent departure from the band on August 21, 2024, after previously announcing an indefinite hiatus and removing himself from band activities.

Film and television scoring

Platzman, who studied film scoring at

, composed the original score for the 2014 season of ''Africa Investigates'', the award-winning investigative documentary series on

Al Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; , ) is a 24-hour English-language News broadcasting, news channel operating under Al Jazeera Media Network, which is funded by the government of Qatar. Al Jazeera introduced an English-language division in 2006. It is ...

produced by Insight TWI. ''Africa Investigates'' is the first internationally broadcast documentary series fronted exclusively by African investigative journalists. Platzman also contributed music to the film ''

Best F(r)iends ''Best F(r)iends'' is a 2017 American dark comedy thriller film starring Tommy Wiseau and Greg Sestero. Written and produced by Sestero in two parts (''Volume One'' and ''Volume Two''), it marks the reunion of Wiseau and Sestero 15 years after ...

'' and scored the short film "Eagles are Turning People Into Horses: The Movie" by Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney.

Discography

* ''Show Me That You Want Me'' (2023) * ''Chairman of the Clowns'' (2023)

Awards

*Vic Firth Award for Outstanding Musicianship, Berklee College of Music *Michael Rendish Award in Film Scoring, Berklee College of Music

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Platzman, Daniel Living people American alternative rock musicians American indie rock musicians American male singers Imagine Dragons members Musicians from Atlanta Musicians from Las Vegas Berklee College of Music alumni 1986 births Jewish American rock musicians American people of Jewish descent 21st-century American singers 21st-century American drummers Alumni of the Paideia School Drummers from Georgia (U.S. state) Drummers from Nevada American male drummers