Composer Hans Zimmer was born September 12, 1957 in Frankfurt, Germany; after relocating to London as a teen, he later wrote advertising jingles for Air-Edel Associates, and in 1980 collaborated with the Buggles on their LP The Age of Plastic and its accompanying hit "Video Killed the Radio Star." A stint with Ultravox followed before Zimmer next surfaced with the Italian avant-garde group Krisma; he then formed a partnership with film composer Stanley Myers, and together they founded the London-based Lillie Yard recording studio. Zimmer and Myers' movie work of the period, which included material for pictures including #Moonlighting, #Success Is the Best Revenge, #Insignificance, and the acclaimed #My Beautiful Launderette, made significant strides in fusing the traditional orchestral aesthetic of film composition with state-of-the-art electronics, and proved highly influential on countless soundtracks to follow.

In 1986 Zimmer joined David Byrne and Ryuichi Sakamoto on their Oscar-winning score to #The Last Emperor; his work on the apartheid drama #A World Apart was his first major solo credit, and led to his Academy Award-nominated score for 1988's Best Picture-winning smash #Rain Man. The following year Zimmer again composed the soundtrack for a Best Picture winner, this time Bruce Beresford's #Driving Miss Daisy; a remarkably prolific writer, by the time the '90s dawned his music was a Hollywood staple, with a list of hits including #Black Rain, #Backdraft, #Thelma & Louise, #A League of Their Own, and #Days of Thunder. Zimmer scored his biggest commercial hit in 1994 with his work on Disney's #The Lion King; the film's soundtrack garnered countless awards, including an Oscar, a Golden Globe, and two Grammys. Later adapted for the Broadway stage, The Lion King took home the 1998 Tony for Best Musical as well.

In 1995, Zimmer also earned a Grammy for his work on #Crimson Tide, which was honored as Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture. Another Academy Award nomination followed for 1996's #The Preacher's Wife; that same year, he earned BMI's prestigious Richard Kirk Award for lifetime achievement. 1997 saw Zimmer earn another Oscar nom for his work on the James L. Brooks comedy #As Good as It Gets, repeating the feat for the third consecutive year in 1998 with his score for the Terence Malick masterpiece #The Thin Red Line. His contributions to #The Prince of Egypt also earned a Golden Globe bid earlier that same year.

The 2000s marked an auspicious time in the composer's career, as he continued scoring the biggest A-list films of the season, averaging two or three blockbusters a year, including #Hannibal, #Gladiator, #The Last Samurai, #Batman Begins, and #The Da Vinci Code. In 2007, Silva Screen Records released Film Music of Hans Zimmer, a double-disc set highlighting his achievements as a movie-music maker. Later in 2007, he reworked Alf Clausen's zany #Simpsons theme into a traditional symphonic film score on #The Simpsons Movie.

~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi