| Origin = Frankfurt, Germany | Instrument = Piano, Keyboard, Guitar | Genre = Film score | Occupation = Film composer Executive score producer | Years_active = 1977 – present | Label = Remote Control Productions | Associated_acts = | URL = http://www.hans-zimmer.com | Notable_instruments = }} Hans Florian Zimmer (born September 12, 1957) is a German composer and music producer. For nearly three decades he has composed music for over 100 films including Rain Man, The Lion King, Crimson Tide, The Thin Red Line, Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Pirates of the Caribbean series, The Da Vinci Code, Frost/Nixon, The Dark Knight, Sherlock Holmes and Inception. Zimmer spent the early part of his career in the United Kingdom before moving to the United States. He is the head of the film music division at DreamWorks studios, and works with other composers through the company which he founded, Remote Control Productions.[1] His works are notable for integrating electronic music sounds with traditional orchestral arrangements. He has won four Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, a Classical BRIT Award, and an Academy Award. Zimmer also has been ranked Number 72 on the list of the Top 100 living geniuses.[2] Contents Early life and career Hollywood film scoring Discography Composer Executive score producer Awards Tonys Emmys Annies References External links Early life and career Zimmer was born in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and moved to London as a teenager, where he attended Hurtwood House school.[3] In an interview with the German television station ZDF in 2006 he commented: "My father died when I was just a child, and I escaped somehow into the music and music has been my best friend."[4] Zimmer began his career playing keyboards and synthesizers. He worked with The Buggles, a New Wave band formed in 1977 with Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes, and Bruce Woolley. Zimmer can be seen briefly in The Buggles' music video for the 1979 song "Video Killed the Radio Star".[5] After working with The Buggles, he started to work for the Italian group Krisma, a New Wave band formed in 1976 with Maurizio Arcieri and Christina Moser. He was a featured synthesist for Krisma’s third album, Cathode Mamma. He has also worked with the band Helden (with Warren Cann from Ultravox).[6] In the 1980s, Zimmer partnered with Stanley Myers, a prolific film composer who wrote the scores for over sixty films. Zimmer and Myers co–founded the London–based Lillie Yard recording studio. Together, Myers and Zimmer worked on fusing the traditional orchestral sound with electronic instruments.[7] Some of the films on which Zimmer and Myers worked are Moonlighting (1982), Success is the Best Revenge (1984), Insignificance (1985), and My Beautiful Launderette (1985). Zimmer's first solo score was Terminal Exposure for director Nico Mastorakis in 1987, for which he also wrote the songs. Zimmer acted as score producer for the 1988 film The Last Emperor, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Score.[8] Hollywood film scoring A turning point in Zimmer's career occurred with the 1988 film Rain Man.[9] In the score, Zimmer uses synthesizers (mostly a Fairlight CMI) mixed with steel drums. Zimmer explained that "It was a road movie, and road movies usually have jangly guitars or a bunch of strings. I kept thinking don't be bigger than the characters. Try to keep it contained. The Raymond character doesn't actually know where he is. The world is so different to him. He might as well be on Mars. So, why don't we just invent our own world music for a world that doesn't really exist?".[10] Zimmer’s score for Rain Man was nominated for an Academy Award in 1989, and the film won four Academy Awards including Best Picture.[11] A year after Rain Man, Zimmer was asked to compose the score for Bruce Beresford's Driving Miss Daisy which, like Rain Man, won an Academy Award for Best Picture. Driving Miss Daisy’s instrumentation consisted entirely of synthesizers and samplers, played by Zimmer. According to an interview with Sound On Sound magazine in 2002, the piano sounds heard within the score come from the Roland MKS–20, a rackmount synthesizer. Zimmer joked: "It didn't sound anything like a piano, but it behaved like a piano."[12] 1991's Thelma & Louise soundtrack by Zimmer featured the trademark slide guitar performance by Pete Haycock on the "Thunderbird" theme in the film. As a teenager, Zimmer was a fan of Haycock, and their collaboration on film scores includes K2 and Drop Zone.[13] For the 1992 film The Power of One, Zimmer traveled to Africa in order to use African choirs and drums in the recording of the score. On the strength of this work, Disney Animation Studios approached Zimmer to compose the score for the 1994 film The Lion King. This was to be his first score for an animated film. Zimmer said that he had wanted to go to South Africa to record parts of the soundtrack, but was unable to visit the country as he had a police record there "for doing 'subversive' movies" after his work on The Power of One. Disney studio bosses expressed fears that Zimmer would be killed if he went to South Africa, so the recording of the choirs was organized during a visit by Lebo M.[14] Zimmer won numerous awards for his work on The Lion King, including an Academy Award for Best Music (Original Score), a Golden Globe, and two Grammys. In 1997, the score was adapted into a Broadway musical version which won the Tony Award for Best Musical in 1998.[15][16] Zimmer's score for Crimson Tide (1995) won a Grammy Award for the main theme, which makes heavy use of synthesizers in place of traditional orchestral instruments. For The Thin Red Line (1998), Zimmer said that the director Terrence Malick wanted the music before he started filming, so he recorded six and a half hours of music.[17] Bruckheimer wanted Zimmer to rescore the film, but due to his commitments on The Last Samurai, the task of composing and supervising music for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl was given to Klaus Badelt, one of Zimmer's colleagues at Media Ventures. Zimmer provided some themes that were used in the film, although he is not credited on screen.[18] Zimmer was hired as the composer for the two subsequent films in the series, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007). Zimmer is also noted for his work on the scores of Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins (2005) and The Dark Knight (2008), on which he collaborated with James Newton Howard.[19] Zimmer succeeded in reversing the decision not to nominate The Dark Knight in December 2008, arguing that the process of creating a modern film score was collaborative, and that it was important to credit a range of people who had played a part in its production.[20] Zimmer explained his approach to scoring with other musicians in an interview with Soundtrack.net in 2006: "Originally I had this idea that it should be possible to create some kind of community around this kind of work, and I think by muddying the titles - not having "you are the composer, you are the arranger, you are the orchestrator" - it just sort of helped us to work more collaboratively. It wasn't that important to me that I had "score by Hans Zimmer" and took sole credit on these things. It's like Gladiator: I gave Lisa Gerrard the co-credit because, even though she didn't write the main theme, her presence and contributions were very influential. She was more than just a soloist, and this is why I have such a problem with specific credits."[21] Zimmer works with other composers through his company Remote Control Productions, formerly known as Media Ventures. His studio in Santa Monica, California has an extensive range of computer equipment and keyboards, allowing demo versions of film scores to be created quickly.[22] His colleagues at the studio have included Steve Jablonsky, James Dooley, Geoff Zanelli, Henning Lohner, Harry Gregson-Williams, Mark Mancina, John Van Tongeren, John Powell and Thomas J.Bergersen. In October 2000, Zimmer performed live in concert for the first time with an orchestra and choir at the 27th Annual Flanders International Film Festival in Ghent.[23] He has received a range of honors and awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award in film Composition from the National Board of Review, the Frederick Loewe Award in 2003 at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, ASCAP’s Henry Mancini Award for Lifetime Achievement, and BMI's Richard Kirk Award for lifetime achievement in 1996. Recent work includes the Spanish language film Casi Divas[24] Sherlock Holmes and The Burning Plain (2009). He composed the theme for the television boxing series The Contender, and worked with Lorne Balfe on the music for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which was his first video game project.[25] Hans Zimmer lives in Los Angeles with his wife Suzanne, and has four children.[26][27] Discography Composer 1982 Moonlighting (with Stanley Myers) 1984 Histoire d'O: Chapitre 2 (with Stanley Myers) Eureka (with Stanley Myers) Success Is the Best Revenge (with Stanley Myers) 1985 My Beautiful Laundrette (with Stanley Myers) Insignificance (with Stanley Myers) 1986 Separate Vacations (with Stanley Myers) The Lightship (with Stanley Myers) Castaway (with Stanley Myers) 1987 Terminal Exposure (with Stanley Myers) Going for Gold (TV) - Opening and closing title themes 1988 Burning Secret Rain Man (Oscar Nomination) Paperhouse (with Stanley Myers) Nightmare at Noon (with Stanley Myers) Maniac City (with Stanley Myers) A World Apart First Born (TV Movie) Taffin (with Stanley Myers) The Nature of the Beast (with Stanley Myers) Spies Inc. (with Fiachra Trench) The Fruit Machine 1989 Black Rain Driving Miss Daisy Twister Diamond Skulls New Music in Films 1990 Chicago Joe and the Showgirl (with Shirley Walker) Green Card Pacific Heights Fools of Fortune Days of Thunder Bird on a Wire Dark Obsession (with Stanley Myers) 1991 Thelma & Louise Regarding Henry Backdraft K2 White Fang (with Basil Poledouris) 1992 Toys Radio Flyer Where Sleeping Dogs Lie (with Mark Mancina) A League Of Their Own The Power of One Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World (with Mark Mancina) - Main Theme 1993 Younger and Younger The House of the Spirits True Romance Point of No Return Calendar Girl Cool Runnings (with Nick Glennie-Smith) 1994 Africa: The Serengeti Drop Zone Renaissance Man I'll Do Anything The Lion King (Golden Globe & Oscar Winner) The Critic 1995 Nine Months Beyond Rangoon Crimson Tide (Grammy Winner) Two Deaths Something to Talk About (with Graham Preskett) 1996 The Preacher's Wife (Oscar Nomination) The Fan Muppet Treasure Island The Whole Wide World (with Harry Gregson-Williams) The Rock (with Nick Glennie-Smith and Harry Gregson-Williams) Broken Arrow 1997 As Good As It Gets (Oscar Nomination) The Peacemaker Smilla's Sense of Snow (with Harry Gregson-Williams) 1998 The Thin Red Line (Oscar Nomination) The Prince of Egypt (Golden Globe & Oscar Nomination) The Last Days 1999 Chill Factor (with John Powell) 2000 An Everlasting Piece Mission: Impossible 2 Gladiator (with Lisa Gerrard) (Golden Globe Winner, Oscar Nomination) The Road to El Dorado (with John Powell) 2001 Black Hawk Down Riding in Cars with Boys Pearl Harbor (Golden Globe Nomination) Hannibal Invincible (with Klaus Badelt) The Pledge (with Klaus Badelt) 2002 The Ring Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (Golden Globe Nomination) 2003 The Last Samurai (Golden Globe Nomination) Something's Gotta Give (Last-minute replacement score, composed with several other composers) Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (uncredited, with Klaus Badelt et al.) Matchstick Men Tears of the Sun Johnny English (theme song co-written with Robbie Williams) 2004 Spanglish (Golden Globe Nomination) Laura's Star (with Nick Glennie-Smith) Shark Tale King Arthur Thunderbirds 2005 The Weather Man (with James S. Levine) Der kleine Eisbär 2 - Die geheimnisvolle Insel (with Nick Glennie-Smith) Madagascar (with Heitor Pereira, James Dooley) Batman Begins (with James Newton Howard) 2006 Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest The Da Vinci Code (Golden Globe Nomination) The Holiday 2007 Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End The Simpsons Movie 2008 Casi Divas The Dark Knight (with James Newton Howard) (Grammy Winner) Kung Fu Panda (with John Powell) Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa The Burning Plain (with Omar Rodríguez-López) Frost/Nixon (Golden Globe Nomination) 2009 Angels & Demons Sherlock Holmes (Oscar Nomination) It's Complicated (with Heitor Pereira) Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Video Game) (Main Themes - Score Producer) 2010 The Pacific (Main theme only; score composed by Geoff Zanelli and Blake Neely) Inception How Do You Know Despicable Me 2011 Rango Executive score producer 1987 The Last Emperor (Music by Cong Su, Ryuichi Sakamoto and David Byrne) 1996 Twister (Music by Mark Mancina) White Squall (Music by Jeff Rona) 1997 Face/Off (Music by John Powell) The Borrowers (Music by Harry Gregson-Williams) 1998 Antz (Music by Harry Gregson-Williams and John Powell) Endurance (Music by John Powell) With Friends Like These... (Music by John Powell) 2002 Live from Baghdad (Music by Steve Jablonsky) 2001 I Am Sam (Music by John Powell) 2003 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (Music by Klaus Badelt) 2004 Ella Enchanted (Music by Nick Glennie-Smith) House of D (Music by Geoff Zanelli) 2005 All the Invisible Children (Music by Ramin Djawadi) Blood+ (Music by Mark Mancina) The Island (Music by Steve Jablonsky) Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (Music by Julian Nott) 2006 Ask The Dust (Music by Heitor Pereira and Ramin Djawadi) Curious George (Music by Heitor Pereira) Over the Hedge (Music by Rupert Gregson-Williams) The Prestige (Music by David Julyan) Urmel Aus Dem Eis (Music by James Dooley) 2007 August Rush (Music by Mark Mancina) Bee Movie (Music by Rupert Gregson-Williams) Transformers (Music by Steve Jablonsky) 2008 Vantage Point (Music by Atli Örvarsson) Babylon A.D. (Music by Atli Örvarsson) Running the Sahara (Music by Heitor Pereira) Iron Man (Music by Ramin Djawadi) 2009 Monsters vs. Aliens (Music by Henry Jackman) The 4th Kind (Music by Atli Örvarsson) Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Music by Steve Jablonsky) Sherlock Holmes 2010 Season of the Witch (Music by Atli Örvarsson) Prince of Persia: the Sands of Time (Music by Harry Gregson-Williams) A Nightmare on Elm Street (Music by Steve Jablonsky) Clash of the Titans (Music By Ramin Djawadi) Awards Nominations are listed below. Nominations won are listed in bold. Academy Awards 1989: Rain Man 1994: The Lion King 1997: The Preacher's Wife 1998: As Good As It Gets 1999: The Prince of Egypt 1999: The Thin Red Line 2001: Gladiator 2010: Sherlock Holmes Golden Globe Awards 1995: The Lion King 1999: The Prince of Egypt 2001: Gladiator 2002: Pearl Harbor 2003: Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (nominated for best song) 2004: The Last Samurai 2005: Spanglish 2007: The Da Vinci Code 2009: Frost/Nixon Satellite Awards 1999: The Thin Red Line 2001: Gladiator 2002: Hannibal 2004: The Last Samurai 2007: The Da Vinci Code Grammy Awards 1991: Driving Miss Daisy - For the end titles. 1995: The Lion King 1996: Crimson Tide 2001: Gladiator - Shared with Lisa Gerrard 2007: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest 2007: The Da Vinci Code 2009: The Dark Knight - Shared with James Newton Howard Saturn Awards 1993: Toys - Shared with Trevor Horn 1996: Crimson Tide 1997: The Rock - Shared with Harry Gregson-Williams and Nick Glennie-Smith 1999: The Prince of Egypt 2001: The Road to El Dorado - Shared with John Powell 2001: Gladiator - Shared with Lisa Gerrard 2006: Batman Begins - Shared with James Newton Howard 2009: The Dark Knight - Shared with James Newton Howard 2010: Sherlock Holmes BAFTAS 1992: Thelma & Louise 1995: The Lion King 2001: Gladiator - Shared with Lisa Gerrard 2009: The Dark Knight - Shared with James Newton Howard Tonys 1998: The Lion King (musical) (Tony Award for Best Original Score) Emmys 2010: The Pacific (Outstanding Music Composition For A Miniseries, Movie Or A Special)[1] Annies 2008: Kung Fu Panda (Music in an Animated Feature Production) 2008: Secrets of the Furious Five (Music in an Animated Television Production or Short Form ) References External links Interview with Hans Zimmer in ''Film Score Monthly'' Interview with Hans Zimmer about Sherlock Holmes from ''C Music TV'' http://www.focus.de/kultur/videos/renners-hollywood/renners-hollywood-der-hans-zimmer-sound_vid_19009.html (14) ar:هانز زيمر bg:Ханс Цимер ca:Hans Zimmer cs:Hans Zimmer da:Hans Zimmer de:Hans Zimmer (Komponist) et:Hans Zimmer es:Hans Zimmer fa:هانس زیمر fr:Hans Zimmer ga:Hans Zimmer gl:Hans Zimmer ko:한스 짐머 id:Hans Zimmer is:Hans Zimmer it:Hans Zimmer he:האנס צימר ka:ჰანს ციმერი la:Iohannes Zimmer hu:Hans Zimmer nl:Hans Zimmer ja:ハンス・ジマー no:Hans Zimmer nds:Hans Zimmer (Komponist) pl:Hans Zimmer pt:Hans Zimmer ro:Hans Zimmer ru:Циммер, Ханс sq:Hans Zimmer sk:Hans Zimmer sl:Hans Zimmer fi:Hans Zimmer sv:Hans Zimmer tt:Хэнз Зиммер th:ฮานส์ ซิมเมอร์ tr:Hans Zimmer uk:Ганс Ціммер zh:漢斯·季默

Source: Wikipedia.org