Hans Zimmer buys BBC Maida Vale Studios
Hans Zimmer has been made a co-owner of BBC Maida Vale Studios.
The BBC has sold its historic venue to a partnership that includes Zimmer - the Oscar-winning German composer of films including The Lion King and Dune - and producers Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner.
The north-west London recording space - which the BBC has owned and operated since the 1930s - has hosted thousands of rock and pop performances from artists including the Beatles, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Dusty Springfield, Beyoncé and Adele.
It was also the home of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the experimental BBC Radiophonic Workshop - where the Doctor Who theme was recorded.
Maida Vale Studios was listed for sale last year for £10.5 million ($13.3 million), however, a final purchase price was not disclosed by the BBC.
Zimmer, 65, recalled first working at Maida Vale 45 years ago.
"I still remember the strong pull, the desire to touch the walls, as if that would somehow allow me to connect to the artists whose extraordinary music had resonated against these walls on a daily basis," the composer said, via The Guardian.
He added, "This was a place of revolutionary science in the service of art, this was a place that inspired you to give your best, where music was performed around the clock and art was taken seriously. For the people by the people."
Zimmer and his co-owners have expressed their intention to keep Maida Vale Studios as a recording space. A multi-million-pound plan has been set for refurbishment, which would also involve a non-profit educational facility.
The BBC is set to move operations currently taking place in Maida Vale to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in east London in 2025.
