“I had a phone call from Paul McCartney, and he wanted me to come in and work with him…” How a Beatle helped Hans Zimmer conquer his stage fright with some priceless advice

The name Hans Zimmer immediately evokes tales of grandeur encapsulated in film scores. From The Lion King to Interstellar and, most recently, the Dune series, Zimmer is one of the best-known – and well-respected – contemporary composers.

However, in a recent Rick Beato interview, the movie soundtrack extraordinaire has proved that he’s just like the rest of us – he also struggles with what often feels like an insurmountable challenge: stage fright. But he manages to (pun very much intended) get by with a little help from his friends.

“Just before I did the very first show, I had a phone call from Paul McCartney, and he wanted me to come in and work with him,” he tells Beato.

“And I said, ‘I want to go and do this show, go and play with my band, but I have really bad stage fright. So you might be just saving me here by offering me a project I can’t say no to.’ He said, ‘Oh, stage fright. I had terrible stage fright.’”

Macca went on to reveal that after not playing a show for three years, he did a performance in Paris where he experienced massive performance anxiety – and only got through it thanks to his audience.

“I don’t know which song it was but he was playing the bridge when he was supposed to play the second verse,” Zimmer continues.

“But he knew that his band was going to be knowing that he was making a mistake and they were going to go to the bridge when it was supposed to be the bridge, as opposed to going to the chorus. But no, they went to the chorus.

“So he just went, ‘Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.’ And the audience went wild, and they just loved it. And afterwards, [English singer and television presenter who was also friends with the Beatles] Cilla Black said to him, ‘Paul, that was amazing. Do you do that every night?’”

So, what was McCartney’s nugget of wisdom on stage fright? “He really sort of helped me by going, ‘They’re on your side. Just talk to them, show your vulnerability. Show who you are.’ And I think that was the best advice I got, and that wasn’t a bad chap to get good advice from, right?”

In recent Hans Zimmer news, the composer also recalled showing Jeff Beck a thing or two on guitar when the two linked up to work together in the ’90s.