Daniel Platzman

Born on September 28, 1986 in Atlanta, Georgia, Daniel Platzman attended the Berklee College of Music and earned a degree in film scoring. While at Berklee, he played in several bands including the Berklee Concert Jazz Orchestra, the Urban Outreach Jazz Orchestra and the Berklee Rainbow Big Band.

Daniel Platzman started his career playing the drums at college and local events. He played in a guitar performance ensemble with bandmates Wayne Sermon and Ben McKee. In 2008, Platzman’s classmate McKee was invited to join the rock band Imagine Dragons. McKee, in turn, invited Daniel to play the drums in the band. Initially, the band played at local events, earning a number of local accolades and awards including the Best CD of 2011 at Vegas SEVEN, the Best Local Indie Band 2010 at Las Vegas Weekly, and ‘Las Vegas' Newest Must See Live Act’ at Las Vegas CityLife.

In November 2011, the band signed a contract with Interscope Records and began working on an album with producer Alex da Kid. They released their debut album ‘Night Visions’ in 2012, which brought mainstream success to the band. The album peaked at number 2 on the Billboard 200 chart, and won the Billboard Music Award for Best Rock Album in 2014. One of the singles, ‘It's Time,’ became the band's first single that reached number 15 on Billboard Hot 100, and was certified multi-platinum by the RIAA.

The second single ‘Radioactive’ became even more popular; it reached number 3 on Billboard Hot 100 and was certified diamond by the RIAA. The single set a new record for being atop the Billboard Hot Rock Songs chart for 23 consecutive weeks. It also became the best selling rock song in the history of Nielsen SoundScan. ‘Radioactive’ was nominated for two Grammy Awards, winning the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance.

Imagine Dragons' second album ‘Smoke + Mirrors’, which was released in 2015, was also a hit. It reached number 1 on the Billboard 200, UK Albums Chart, and Canadian Albums Chart. Its singles ‘I Bet My Life’ and ‘Shots’ were also successful. The band performed songs for several films, including ‘Ready Aim Fire’ for ‘Iron Man 3’, ‘Who We Are’ for ‘The Hunger Games: Catching Fire’, and ‘Battle Cry’ for ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’.

Platzman composed the original score for ‘Africa Investigates’, an award-winning investigative documentary series aired in 2014 on Al Jazeera English. He also contributed musically to the film ‘Best F(r)iends’.