John Debney
John Cardon Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American composer and conductor of film, television, and video game scores. His work encompasses a variety of mediums and genres, including comedy, horror, science fiction, thriller, fantasy, and action-adventure. He is a long-time collaborator of The Walt Disney Company, having written music for their films, television series, and theme parks. He has also collaborated with film directors such as Jon Favreau, Garry Marshall, Tom Shadyac, Peter Hyams, John A. Davis, Brad Anderson, Howard Deutch, Mark Dindal, Robert Rodriguez, and Paul Tibbitt. Debney has been the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards and an Academy Award nomination for his score for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004). The son of Disney Studios producer Louis Debney (Zorro, The Mickey Mouse Club), John was born and raised in Glendale, California, nearby to Disney. He began guitar lessons at age six and played in rock bands in college. Debney earned his B.A. degree in Music Composition from the California Institute of Arts in 1979. After ending his career with Disney, Debney worked for Mike Post. Debney furthered his hands-on training by working with Hanna-Barbera composer Hoyt Curtin. After this, Debney went on to score television projects as diverse as Disneyland, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, SeaQuest DSV, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, The Cape, The Lazarus Man, Piggsburg Pigs!, The Further Adventures of SuperTed, Doctor Who, Cagney and Lacey, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Young Riders, The New Yogi Bear Show, Police Academy: The Animated Series, Fame, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Dragon's Lair, Freshman Dorm, Pop Quiz, and Dink, the Little Dinosaur, for which he won an Emmy for Best Main Title. In the early 1990s, Debney began to score indie films and Disneyland attractions. In 1991, Debney composed the music for Phantom Manor and It's a Small World (also used at Disneyland from 1993 to 2002) in Disneyland Paris and SpectroMagic at Magic Kingdom. In 1993, he scored his first studio feature, the Disney comedy Hocus Pocus starring Bette Midler. In 1994, Debney wrote Friends Forever with Greg Scelsa from Greg & Steve's album We All Live Together, Vol. 5. Debney has since gone on to have a career composing scores for many films, including Cats & Dogs, The Passion of the Christ, Bruce Almighty, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Elf, Sin City, Chicken Little, Liar Liar, Spy Kids, The Scorpion King, The Princess Diaries, and Predators. Debney has also composed scores for the video games Lair and The Sims Medieval. In 2010, he composed the theme music for the Nickelodeon television series Supah Ninjas. He composed some of Disney Parks's Nighttime Spectaculars, including World Of Colour Celebrate! in Disney's California Adventure, The Magic, The Memories And You! and Celebrate the Magic in Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom and Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland in Tokyo Disneyland, as well as an arrangement of "When You Wish Upon a Star" as a fanfare for the Walt Disney Pictures logo from 1985 to 2006. Description above from the Wikipedia article John Debney, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Filmography (107)
You, Me & Tuscany
In Your Dreams
The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants
The Garfield Movie
Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1
Spy Kids: Armageddon
Hypnotic
80 for Brady
Under the Boardwalk
Hocus Pocus 2
Marry Me
Luck
Home Sweet Home Alone
Clifford the Big Red Dog
American Underdog
Come Away
I Still Believe
Dora and the Lost City of Gold
Isn't It Romantic
Sextuplets
The Beach Bum
Brian Banks
Beirut
The Greatest Showman
Home Again
Mother's Day
The Jungle Book
Ice Age: Collision Course
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water
Walk of Shame
Draft Day
The Cobbler
Stonehearst Asylum
The Call
Jobs
A Thousand Words
Alex Cross
The Three Stooges
The Change-Up
Dream House
New Year's Eve
The Double
No Strings Attached
Iron Man 2
Predators
Valentine's Day
Yogi Bear
Old Dogs
Hannah Montana: The Movie
Hotel for Dogs
The Stoning of Soraya M.
Meet Dave
Swing Vote
My Best Friend's Girl
Evan Almighty
Georgia Rule
The Ant Bully
Barnyard
Everyone's Hero
Idlewild
Sin City
Cheaper by the Dozen 2
The Pacifier
Chicken Little
Zathura: A Space Adventure
The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl
Duma
Dreamer: Inspired By a True Story
The Passion of the Christ
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Christmas with the Kranks
The Whole Ten Yards
Raising Helen
Bruce Almighty
Elf
Malibu's Most Wanted
The Scorpion King
The Hot Chick
The Tuxedo
Swimfan
Snow Dogs
Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams
Dragonfly
Heartbreakers
The Princess Diaries
Cats & Dogs
Spy Kids
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius
See Spot Run
The Emperor's New Groove
The Replacements
End of Days
Inspector Gadget
Komodo
My Favorite Martian
Dick
I'll Be Home for Christmas
Paulie
I Know What You Did Last Summer
Liar Liar
The Relic
Cutthroat Island
Sudden Death
Little Giants
White Fang 2: Myth of the White Wolf
Hocus Pocus
