One of Hollywood’s most successful composers of film music,
Hans Zimmer’s work is recognized around the world for being both innovative and strikingly memorable. Hans Florian Zimmer was born on September 12, 1957 in Frankfurt, Germany. He soon moved to London and began his musical career playing keyboards and synthesizers with, among others, the bands
Ultravox and The
Buggles, during which time he produced the worldwide hit, “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Later, he became a member of the electro-wave band Krisma, by which time he had become known as a pioneer in th
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e use of synthesizers and computers to create music. In the 1980s, he began working with Stanley Myers, a film composer, and became attached to his first hit movie, the independent film My Beautiful Launderette. His breakthrough came in 1988, with the score for Rain Man, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Since then, Zimmer has produced film music for a series of both high profile and smaller, independent films. Hans Zimmer film themes can be found on the soundtracks for Thelma and Louise, Backdraft, The Lion
King, Pirates of the Caribbean and Driving Miss Daisy, among many others.
In 2007, two of Zimmer's scores (both of which also had lyrics) entered the UK Singles Chart as well as the US Billboard Top 100 List when "
Spider Pig" from
The Simpsons Movie (charted at #24) and "Hoist the Colors" from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (charted at #43) topped the lists based on download sales. The song ("Spider Pig") reached #3 on the Irish Singles Chart. To date, Zimmer has also taken home one
Oscar (The Lion King), two Golden Globes (The Lion King and Gladiator) and one Grammy (Crimson Tide). His legacy has already been established, but he will no doubt be building on it, well into the new millennium.
