&list_text=          Among Disney's most prolific composers, eight-time Academy Award winner Alan Menken writes from his soul. Whether it be "A Whole New World," co-written with Tim Rice for "Aladdin" or "Colors of the Wind," co-written with Stephen Schwartz for "Pocohontas," Alan's songs speak directly to the hearts of Disney fans and music lovers alike. 
          He explained, "Songs are a very familiar vocabulary to people and I've always believed that you should be able to understand not only the feeling, but the content of the song, by just hearing the music and not even the lyrics. What you're trying to say should be that clear."
          Born July 22, 1949, and raised in New Rochelle, New York, Alan was more interested in creating his own tunes as a child than practicing the songs assigned to him by his piano and violin teachers. Later, he enrolled at New York University as a pre-med student, but ultimately graduated with a degree in music in 1971.
          Soon after, Alan joined a theater workshop run by Broadway conductor Lehman Engel, where he met fellow Legend Howard Ashman. In 1987, after the success of their second collaboration "Little Shop of Horrors," a campy adaptation of Roger Corman's 1960 cult film, he and Ashman joined Disney to write songs for "The Little Mermaid," winning Alan his first two Oscars for Best Song, "Under the Sea" and Best Music, Original Score. Three years later, his contributions to "Beauty and the Beast" earned him two more Academy Awards for the film's title song, as well as Best Music, Original Score. 
          The musical team were working on "Aladdin" at the time of Ashman's untimely death in 1991. Subsequently, Alan went on to collaborate with lyricist Tim Rice on the Oscar-winning "A Whole New World" and took home an additional Academy Award for the film's original score.
          In 1996, Alan won his seventh and eighth Oscars for Disney's "Pocohontas" in the categories of Best Music, Song ("Colors of the Wind") and Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score.
          Alan went on to earn additional Oscar nominations for his work on Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" in 1996 and "Hercules" in 1997. He also scored the 1992 Disney live-action musical "Newsies" followed by Hollywood Pictures' "Life with Mikey," starring Michael J. Fox. His small screen contributions include direct-to-video films, including "The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea".
          In 1994, Alan helped translate "Beauty and the Beast" to the Broadway stage, while in 1997, he and Rice wrote music for Disney's stage production "King David". 
          Outside Disney, he has contributed to a variety of esteemed projects including the original score for the 1992 television documentary "Lincoln," as well as the "Rocky V" song titled "The Measure of a Man." Among Alan Menken's non-Disney stage work, are the original score for the Off-Broadway "Weird Romance" in 1992 and "A Christmas Carol" in 1994.&