Film Music Hits
Nick Davies
Martin Holmen Hans Zimmer

Before his breakthrough in 1988, Zimmer began his musical career as a keyboardist, collaborating with The Buggles, among others. That collaboration meant he appeared on TV long before he became truly famous, in the music video for the 1979 hit "Video Killed the Radio Star". Together with another film composer, Zimmer started a studio in the 1980s. Their vision was to merge traditional orchestral sound with electronic instruments, an approach that recurs throughout much of Zimmer's film music to this day.

One year after Rain Man, Hans Zimmer's name appeared in the credits again, this time for the score to Driving Miss Daisy, starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman. Although both Rain Man and Driving Miss Daisy won the Oscar for Best Picture, it took an animated film before Hans Zimmer could bring home his first Oscar statuette.

Hans Zimmer travelled to Africa to record both African choir and drums for use in the film The Power of One. This work led to him being contacted by Disney to compose the music for The Lion King in 1994. His work on the film earned him several awards, including an Oscar for Best Original Score, a Golden Globe, and two Grammys.

Since then, Zimmer has contributed to some of Hollywood's biggest films, such as Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, The Da Vinci Code, Pirates of the Caribbean, Inception, and The Dark Knight trilogy. In 2021, the blockbuster Dune was released, and the score earned Zimmer his second Oscar and third Golden Globe.

On the film database IMDb, Zimmer is credited as composer on 274 films. He has been nominated for an Oscar twelve times, won three Golden Globes, and won four Grammy Awards. His name is mentioned in the same breath as film music giants such as John Williams and Ennio Morricone. At the age of 69, there is nothing to suggest he is about to stop any time soon.