History of Hans Zimmer in Timeline
Hans Zimmer is a highly acclaimed German film composer and music producer, celebrated for his impactful scores across numerous films. He's garnered significant recognition, including two Academy Awards, a BAFTA, three Golden Globes, and five Grammys. His innovative approach to film scoring has made him one of the most sought-after composers in Hollywood. Zimmer's influence extends beyond awards; he was recognized as one of the Top 100 Living Geniuses by The Daily Telegraph in 2007, highlighting his significant contribution to music and film.
1 hour ago : Hans Zimmer's 'The Next Level' Tour Postponed Due to Unforeseen Circumstances.
Hans Zimmer's 'The Next Level' tour was postponed due to unforeseen circumstances, impacting scheduled concert dates. Zimmer continues to elevate film concerts, aiming for unparalleled experiences. Fans await rescheduled dates.
September 1957: Hans Zimmer Born
On September 12, 1957, Hans Florian Zimmer was born. He is a German film composer and music producer.
1973: Inspiration for True Romance Theme
In 1973, Carl Orff's Gassenhauer was used in the film Badlands, which inspired the theme for True Romance.
1976: Krisma
In 1976, Hans Zimmer worked for the Italian group Krisma, a new wave band.
1977: The Buggles
In 1977, Hans Zimmer worked with the Buggles, a new wave band formed in London.
1979: "Video Killed the Radio Star" Appearance
In 1979, Hans Zimmer made a brief appearance in the Buggles' music video for the song "Video Killed the Radio Star".
1980: "History of the World, Part 1" co-production
In 1980, Hans Zimmer co-produced a single, "History of the World, Part 1", with UK punk band The Damned.
1982: Moonlighting Collaboration
In 1982, Hans Zimmer worked with Stanley Myers on the film Moonlighting.
1984: Composing for Wonder Woman 1984
In 1984, Hans Zimmer was announced as the composer for "Wonder Woman 1984".
1984: Mecano Performance
In 1984, Hans Zimmer was invited to be part of the Spanish group Mecano for a live performance in Segovia (Spain).
1984: Success Is the Best Revenge Collaboration
In 1984, Hans Zimmer worked with Stanley Myers on the film Success Is the Best Revenge.
1985: Shriekback album Oil and Gold
In 1985, Hans Zimmer contributed to the Shriekback album Oil and Gold.
1985: Insignificance and My Beautiful Laundrette Collaboration
In 1985, Hans Zimmer worked with Stanley Myers on the films Insignificance and My Beautiful Laundrette.
1987: Going for Gold Theme Song
In 1987, Hans Zimmer composed, with Sandy McClelland, the theme song for the television game show Going for Gold.
1987: Terminal Exposure First Solo Score
In 1987, Hans Zimmer's first solo score was Terminal Exposure for director Nico Mastorakis, for which he also wrote the songs.
1988: Scoring Rain Man
In 1988, Hans Zimmer was hired to score the film Rain Man after director Barry Levinson was impressed by his work on A World Apart.
1989: Academy Award Nomination
In 1989, Hans Zimmer's score for Rain Man was nominated for an Academy Award.
1991: Thelma & Louise
In 1991, Hans Zimmer composed the soundtrack to Ridley Scott's film Thelma & Louise, featuring Pete Haycock.
1992: Divorce from Vicki Carolin
In 1992, Hans Zimmer divorced his first wife, model Vicki Carolin, with whom he had a daughter.
1992: The Power of One
In 1992, Hans Zimmer traveled to Africa to use African choirs and drums in the recording of the score for the film The Power of One.
1993: True Romance Theme
In 1993, Hans Zimmer wrote the theme for Tony Scott's film True Romance, based on Carl Orff's Gassenhauer.
1994: Academy Award for The Lion King
In 1994, Hans Zimmer won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for The Lion King.
1994: The Lion King Score
In 1994, Walt Disney Animation Studios approached Hans Zimmer to compose the score for the film The Lion King.
1995: Marriage to Suzanne Zimmer
In 1995, Hans Zimmer married his second wife, Suzanne Zimmer, with whom he had three children.
1995: Crimson Tide Grammy
In 1995, Hans Zimmer's score for the film Crimson Tide won a Grammy Award for the main theme.
1996: Richard Kirk Career Achievement Award
In 1996, Hans Zimmer received the Richard Kirk Career Achievement Award from the BMI Film Music Awards.
1997: The Lion King on Broadway
In 1997, Hans Zimmer's score for The Lion King was adapted into a Broadway musical version.
1998: The Thin Red Line and The Prince of Egypt
In 1998, Hans Zimmer worked on both The Thin Red Line and The Prince of Egypt. Terrence Malick wanted the music for The Thin Red Line before he started filming, and Zimmer introduced Ofra Haza to the directors of The Prince of Egypt.
1998: Tony Award
In 1998, The Lion King musical version won the Tony Award for Best Musical.
1999: Berlin Film Festival Speech
In a speech at the 1999 Berlin Film Festival, Hans Zimmer stated that he is Jewish.
October 2000: Live Performance at Flanders International Film Festival
In October 2000, Hans Zimmer performed live in concert for the first time with an orchestra and choir at the 27th Annual Flanders International Film Festival in Ghent.
2000: Gladiator release
In 2000, Hans Zimmer composed the music for Gladiator.
2001: Black Hawk Down and Hannibal
In 2001, Hans Zimmer composed scores for Black Hawk Down and Hannibal.
2002: Synthesizer Piano Sounds
In 2002, Hans Zimmer mentioned in an interview that the piano sounds in Driving Miss Daisy came from the Roland MKS–20 synthesizer.
2002: Piano Lessons Story
In a 2002 interview, Hans Zimmer jokingly stated that he had piano lessons only briefly as a child, stating "either I was going to kill the teacher, or he was going to kill me".
2003: The Last Samurai release
In 2003, Hans Zimmer composed the music for The Last Samurai.
2003: Awards from National Board of Review, Palm Springs, ASCAP
In 2003, Hans Zimmer received the Career Achievement Award from the National Board of Review, the Frederick Loewe Award for Film Composing at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and the ASCAP Henry Mancini Award.
2003: Pirates of the Caribbean Opportunity
In early 2003, Jerry Bruckheimer approached Hans Zimmer to rescore Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, but due to commitments on The Last Samurai, the task was given to Klaus Badelt. Zimmer provided some themes.
2005: The Dark Knight trilogy (2005–2012)
Hans Zimmer worked on The Dark Knight trilogy starting in 2005.
2005: Batman Begins Collaboration
In 2005, Hans Zimmer began his collaboration with Christopher Nolan on six films, starting with Batman Begins.
2005: Scoring Batman Begins
In 2005, Hans Zimmer worked on the score for Christopher Nolan's "Batman Begins".
2006: Pirates of the Caribbean series (2006-2011)
Hans Zimmer worked on the Pirates of the Caribbean film series starting in 2006.
2006: The Da Vinci Code
In 2006, Hans Zimmer composed the score for The Da Vinci Code.
2006: Approach to Scoring with other Musicians
In 2006, Hans Zimmer explained his approach to scoring films with other musicians in an interview with Soundtrack.net.
2006: Father's Death
In 2006, Hans Zimmer said in an interview that his father died when he was just a child, and he escaped into music.
2006: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
In 2006, Hans Zimmer was hired as the composer for the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.
2007: The Simpsons Movie
In 2007, Hans Zimmer composed the score for The Simpsons Movie.
2007: Top 100 Living Geniuses
In 2007, Hans Zimmer was named one of the Top 100 Living Geniuses by The Daily Telegraph.
2007: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End
In 2007, Hans Zimmer was the composer for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.
December 2008: Reversing disqualification of "The Dark Knight" score
In December 2008, Hans Zimmer successfully reversed the decision to disqualify "The Dark Knight" score from Academy Award nomination. He argued that modern film score creation is collaborative, necessitating crediting everyone involved in the production.
2008: Kung Fu Panda
In 2008, Hans Zimmer co-composed the score for Kung Fu Panda with John Powell.
2009: The Burning Plain release
Hans Zimmer did additional work in the 2000s which included the Spanish language film Casi Divas, and The Burning Plain in 2009.
2009: Angels & Demons and Sherlock Holmes
In 2009, Hans Zimmer composed scores for Angels & Demons and Sherlock Holmes.
2009: Scoring Sherlock Holmes with out-of-tune piano
In 2009, Hans Zimmer purchased an out-of-tune piano for $200 and used it throughout the scoring process for the film "Sherlock Holmes" because of its quirkiness.
December 2010: Star on Hollywood Walk of Fame
In December 2010, Hans Zimmer received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, dedicating the award to his publicist Ronni Chasen.
2010: Inception Release
In 2010, Hans Zimmer composed the music for Inception.
2010: Scoring Inception with electronic manipulation
In 2010, for the film "Inception", Hans Zimmer used electronic manipulation of the song "Non, je ne regrette rien." The horn sound became a popular feature in film trailers.
2011: Pirates of the Caribbean series (2006-2011)
Hans Zimmer worked on the Pirates of the Caribbean film series up to 2011.
2011: Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
In 2011, Hans Zimmer was the composer for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, collaborating with Rodrigo y Gabriela.
April 2012: Highest Grossing Broadway Show
As of April 2012, The Lion King musical version is the highest grossing Broadway show of all time, having grossed $853.8 million.
July 2012: Release of "The Dark Knight Rises"
In July 2012, "The Dark Knight Rises", the final installment of Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Trilogy" was released, featuring a score by Hans Zimmer. Following the Aurora, Colorado shooting, Zimmer released "Aurora", a choral arrangement of a theme from the soundtrack, to raise money for the victims.
2012: The Dark Knight trilogy (2005–2012)
Hans Zimmer worked on The Dark Knight trilogy up to 2012.
February 2013: Parents' Influence
In a February 2013 interview with Mashable, Hans Zimmer described his parents: "My mother was very musical, basically a musician and my father was an engineer and an inventor."
March 2013: Co-Composing "The Bible" TV series
In March 2013, Hans Zimmer co-composed the music for the television series "The Bible" with Lorne Balfe and Lisa Gerrard.
2013: Man of Steel Release
In 2013, Hans Zimmer composed the music for Man of Steel.
2013: Asteroid Discovery
In 2013, Polish astronomers discovered a main-belt asteroid—(495253) 2013 OC8—which was later named "Hanszimmer" in November 2017.
March 2014: "12 Years a Slave" wins Academy Award
In March 2014, the film "12 Years a Slave", for which Hans Zimmer composed the score, won the Academy Award for Best Picture.
July 2014: Composing Tomorrowland Hymn
In July 2014, Hans Zimmer composed the "Tomorrowland Hymn" for the Tomorrowland festival's tenth anniversary.
2014: Interstellar Release
In 2014, Hans Zimmer composed the music for Interstellar.
March 2016: Retiring from superhero film scores
In March 2016, Hans Zimmer announced that he was retiring from composing music for superhero films, stating that working on "Batman v Superman" was difficult for him to find new language.
June 2016: Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication
In June 2016, Hans Zimmer was one of the inaugural winners of the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication.
2016: Statements on not scoring another superhero film
Despite statements made in 2016 about not scoring another superhero film, Zimmer composed the score for Dark Phoenix.
2016: BBC nature documentary Planet Earth II theme
In 2016, Hans Zimmer composed the main theme for the BBC nature documentary "Planet Earth II", presented by David Attenborough. In the same year, Zimmer released an online course teaching the basics of film scoring and composed the main theme for the Netflix production "The Crown".
November 2017: Asteroid named "Hanszimmer"
In November 2017, a main-belt asteroid—(495253) 2013 OC8—discovered by Polish astronomers was named "Hanszimmer".
2017: Dunkirk Release
In 2017, Hans Zimmer composed the music for Dunkirk.
2017: Scoring Blue Planet II and Dunkirk
In 2017, Hans Zimmer composed the score for the BBC nature documentary "Blue Planet II", presented by David Attenborough. He also composed the score for Christopher Nolan's "Dunkirk".
August 2018: Composing Wonder Woman 1984
In August 2018, Hans Zimmer was announced as the composer for "Wonder Woman 1984".
October 2018: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
On October 2, 2018, Hans Zimmer received the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.
2018: Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award
In 2018, Hans Zimmer received the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award at Hollywood in Vienna.
March 2019: Scoring Dune
In March 2019, it was announced that Hans Zimmer would be scoring Denis Villeneuve's "Dune".
June 2019: Creating sounds for BMW concept vehicle
In June 2019, Hans Zimmer was hired to create sounds for BMW's concept vehicle, the Vision M Next, producing and composing warning sounds for the electric car line.
2019: Induction as a Disney Legend
In 2019, Hans Zimmer was inducted as a Disney Legend.
January 2020: Taking over as composer for "No Time to Die"
In January 2020, Hans Zimmer took over as composer for the James Bond film "No Time to Die" after Dan Romer left the project.
February 2020: Composing Major League Soccer anthem
In February 2020, Major League Soccer released an anthem for its 25th season, composed by Hans Zimmer.
March 2020: Composing score for Hillbilly Elegy
In March 2020, Hans Zimmer composed the score for "Hillbilly Elegy".
April 2020: Filing for divorce from Suzanne Zimmer
On April 3, 2020, Hans Zimmer filed for divorce from his second wife, Suzanne Zimmer, whom he married in 1995 and with whom he had three children.
2021: Academy Award for Dune
In 2021, Hans Zimmer won an Academy Award for Best Original Score for Dune.
October 2022: Zimmer on importance of Attenborough work
In an October 2022 interview on BBC Radio, Hans Zimmer expressed that his work with David Attenborough on nature documentaries is the only work of his that's worth anything because of its potential to impact how we approach the world.
2022: Academy Award Nominations and Wins
As of 2022, Hans Zimmer has received twelve Academy Award nominations for his work, with two wins; the first being at the 67th Academy Awards for the 1994 film The Lion King and the second being for the 2021 film Dune at the 94th Academy Awards.
2022: Collaborations on Frozen Planet II and Top Gun: Maverick
In 2022, Hans Zimmer collaborated with Camila Cabello on the song "Take Me Back Home" for the documentary series "Frozen Planet II". He also contributed to the main title credits and other tracks for the film "Top Gun: Maverick".
June 2023: Proposal to Dina De Luca
On June 15, 2023, Hans Zimmer proposed to his partner Dina De Luca on stage at London's O2 Arena during one of his shows.
2024: Release of Dune sequel and writing music for the third film
In 2024, Hans Zimmer composed the score for the Dune sequel. As of 2024, Zimmer has begun writing music for a third Dune film while Villeneuve has started on the film's script.
2025: Scoring F1 sports film
In 2025, Hans Zimmer is set to score "F1", a sports film starring Brad Pitt and directed by Joseph Kosinski.
2025: F1 Release
In 2025, Hans Zimmer is slated to be working on the music for F1.
2025: Composing score for The Last Photograph
In 2025, Hans Zimmer was announced as one of three composers for Zack Snyder's upcoming film, "The Last Photograph".
2049: Scoring duties for Blade Runner 2049
Hans Zimmer worked on the score for Denis Villeneuve's Blade Runner 2049. Hans Zimmer and co-composer Benjamin Wallfisch took over scoring duties after Jóhann Jóhannsson left the project.
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