Derek Margulies
Film Scores
2/10/15
Hans Zimmer
Hans Zimmer was born in Frankfurt am Main, West Germany on September 12, 1957. As a child, Zimmer took piano lessons, however, he disliked taking lessons due to the discipline involved. When Zimmer was a teenager, he moved to London. Zimmer’s father died as a child and found music to be his best friend.
Zimmer began his musical career playing keyboards in the 1970s. He played for the Buggles, which were a band formed in 1977 known for the hit “Video Killed the Radio Star”. Aside from his work with the Buggles, Zimmer joined many bands while living in London.
Zimmer also worked on composing music for companies. His first composition job was writing jingles in advertisements for Air-Edel Associates, which is a company that represents musical composers, arrangers, editors, and supervisors around the world. In the 1980s, Zimmer partnered with Stanley Myers, who had written film scores for over 60 films. Zimmer and Myers co-founded the Lillie Yard recording studio, based in London, where they combined orchestral instruments with electronic instruments.
In 1987, Zimmer wrote his first solo film score for the film Terminal Exposure, directed by Nico Mastorakis. In 1988, Zimmer scored Rain Man, which was a turning point in his career. Director Barry Levinson was looking for someone to score Rain Man. Levinson’s wife had heard the soundtrack for the film A World Apart and showed the soundtrack to her husband. Barry Levinson was a fan of Zimmer’s work and hired Zimmer to score his film. Today, Zimmer has composed for over one hundred fifty films, including Inception, The Lion King, and The Dark Knight. He is the head of the fim music division at DreamWorks studios and works with many film composers.
Sources:
(Inception)
(Rain Man)
(Dark Knight)