John William Kavanaugh is an American composer, lyricist and musical director who is currently serving as songwriter for

Disney Television Animation Disney Television Animation (DTVA), formerly known as Walt Disney Pictures Television Animation Group and Walt Disney Television Animation, is the television animation production arm of Disney Branded Television, a sub-division of the Disney G ...

. He is the recipient of 7 Emmy nominations and was awarded the 2014 Daytime

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for

Sofia The First ''Sofia the First'' is an American animated fantasy children's television series. The show follows a young peasant girl named Sofia ( Ariel Winter), who becomes a princess after her mother marries the king of Enchancia. Episodes focus on her ad ...

Main Title theme song with co-lyricist Craig Gerber. While working on

, John was tapped to write songs for Disney's First Latina princess, the award-winnin
Elena of Avalor
John is now penning the songs and serving as music director on the serie
Alice's Wonderland Bakery
which premiered in February of 2022. His songs can also be heard in several hit movies, including Disney's

Descendants 3 ''Descendants 3'' is an American musical fantasy television film, and the third installment in the ''Descendants'' series, following '' Descendants'' and ''Descendants 2''. It is written by Sara Parriott and Josann McGibbon, and is directed by ...

(My Once Upon a Time),

Winnie The Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh, also called Pooh Bear and Pooh, is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. The first collection of stories about the character w ...

film ''

Springtime with Roo ''Springtime with Roo'' (also known as ''Winnie the Pooh: Springtime with Roo'') is a 2004 American direct-to-video animated musical comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and DisneyToon Studios, and animated by Toon City Animation i ...

'' and

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

's ''Globehunters''. He co-wrote the scores to ''Curious George Live'' for

NBC Universal The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

, ''Dreams are Universal'' for

Universal Studios Japan is a theme park located in Osaka, Japan. Opened on March 31, 2001, it is one of six Universal Parks & Resorts, Universal Studios theme parks worldwide and was the first to open outside the United States. The park is owned and operated by a whol ...

, ''Flintstones: The Musical'' for

Universal Studios Hollywood Universal Studios Hollywood is a film studio and theme park An amusement park is a park that features various attractions, such as rides and games, as well as other events for entertainment purposes. A theme park is a type of amusemen ...

, as well as numerous songs for

Sesame Street Live ''Sesame Street Live'' is a live touring show based on the children's television show ''Sesame Street'' produced by Feld Entertainment. History The VEE Corporation was started in March 1980 by founder Vincent Egan, who had an idea to produce a l ...

and

Tokyo DisneySea is a theme park at the Tokyo Disney Resort located in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Japan, just next to Tokyo. It opened on 4 September 2001, at a cost of 335 billion yen. The Oriental Land Company owns the park, and licenses intellectual proper ...

. With lyricist Marcy Heisler, John wrote the song Joseph's Lullaby for Michael Crawford which appears on his album On Eagle's Wings.

Personal life

John, (John William Kavanaugh) is the son of Edward Houston Kavanaugh and Eileen Kirby Gunn and is the youngest of six children. He grew up in Norfolk, Virginia and developed his passion for music by watching his mother play the piano and create/direct many variety shows in Norfolk. He graduated from Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida and began working at Disney World in 1983. He then moved to Los Angeles in 1986 to work for Disneyland where he soon began his composing career writing for theatre and theme parks worldwide. He is currently married to Efren Gonzalez and resides in Los Angeles, California.

Awards

Articles

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/tv/tv-guy/os-disney-composer-serves-two-heroines-20161205-story.html

References

External links

* American film score composers Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Video game composers Disney music Animation composers {{US-composer-20thC-stub