Joel McNeely
American composer (born 1959)
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Joel McNeely (born March 28, 1959) is an American composer, conductor, arranger, musician, lyricist, and record producer. A protégé of composer Jerry Goldsmith, he is best known for his film and television scores. He won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series for his work on George Lucas's The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He frequently collaborates with Seth MacFarlane and contributes to various projects by The Walt Disney Company.
Joel McNeely | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | March 28, 1959 Madison, Wisconsin, U.S. |
| Genres | Film score, pop, jazz |
| Occupations | Composer, conductor, arranger, pianist, musician, songwriter, producer |
| Instruments | Piano, organ, keyboard, backing vocals |
| Years active | 1986–present |
| Label | Republic |
| Website | www |
Biography
Joel McNeely was born in Madison, Wisconsin. Both of his parents were involved in music and theater, and as a child he played the piano, saxophone, bass, and flute. He attended the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, studied jazz at the University of Miami, and earned a master's degree as a composition major at the Eastman School of Music.[citation needed]
LucasArts chose McNeely to compose the soundtrack to the 1996 Star Wars video game, Shadows of the Empire, while incorporating the themes from the films by John Williams. This was an experimental project where he conveyed general moods and themes instead of writing music to flow for specific scenes.
He is also known for conducting a series of re-recordings of film scores by Bernard Herrmann, Franz Waxman, John Barry, and other composers under the label of Varèse Sarabande, including those Herrmann wrote for Vertigo, Psycho and Citizen Kane. He also composed the score for The Avengers and the theme and music for FOX's Dark Angel. Additionally, he scored the movies Terminal Velocity, Iron Will (which was used in the teaser trailer to Toy Story, the theatrical trailer to Balto, the direct-to-video trailer to Balto III: Wings of Change, and the VHS trailer to Mulan), Flipper, Gold Diggers, Samantha, Virus, and I Know Who Killed Me. He also scored a multitude of Disney animated films (Mulan II, Return to Never Land, The Jungle Book 2, Tinker Bell and many others).
Currently McNeely scores occasional episodes of the FOX animated TV series American Dad!, since the fourth season replacing Ron Jones who left to focus more on composing for Family Guy, including the episode with the Back to the Future parody, and the season five premiere (among others).
McNeely has also composed the score for Disneyland Paris's Entertainment Shows including: Disney Dreams! & Mickey and the Magician, and Tokyo Disneyland's Disney Gifts of Christmas.
McNeely has produced three of Seth MacFarlane's studio albums, including 2011's Music Is Better Than Words, 2014's Holiday for Swing,[1] and 2017's In Full Swing.
In 2017, he composed a score for MacFarlane's new series, The Orville, along with Bruce Broughton and John Debney.
Filmography
Film
1980s
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | You Talkin' to Me? | Charles Winkler | United Artists | N/a |
| 1988 | Splash, Too | Greg Antonacci | Walt Disney Television ABC | TV movie |
| 1989 | Parent Trap III | Mollie Miller | Walt Disney Television Disney Channel | Television film |
| Polly | Debbie Allen | Walt Disney Television NBC | TV movie | |
| Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon | Mollie Miller | Walt Disney Television NBC | Television film |
1990s
2000s
2010s
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue | Bradley Raymond | Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment DisneyToon Studios | Direct-to-video film |
| 2011 | Pixie Hollow Games | Bradley Raymond | Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment DisneyToon Studios | Television special |
| 2012 | Secret of the Wings | Bobs Gannaway Peggy Holmes | Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment DisneyToon Studios | Direct-to-video film |
| 2014 | The Pirate Fairy | Peggy Holmes | Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment DisneyToon Studios | Direct-to-video film |
| A Million Ways to Die in the West | Seth MacFarlane | Fuzzy Door Productions Media Rights Capital Universal Pictures | N/a | |
| Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast[2] | Steve Loter | Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment DisneyToon Studios | Direct-to-video film |
Television
| Years | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Blacke's Magic | |
| 1986–1988 | Our House | |
| 1988 | Aaron's Way | |
| 1988 | Blue Skies | Episode: "Something Wold, Something New" |
| 1989 | The Wonder Years | Episode: "Square Dance" |
| 1990 | Tiny Toon Adventures | 3 episodes |
| 1991 | Darkwing Duck | Episode: "Beauty and the Beet" |
| 1992 | The Plucky Duck Show | 2 episodes |
| 1992–1993 | The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles | 9 episodes |
| 1998 | Buddy Faro | |
| 2000–2002 | Dark Angel | |
| 2001 | All Souls | |
| 2002 | The Court | |
| 2009–present | American Dad! | |
| 2017–2022 | The Orville | with John Debney, Bruce Broughton (pilot and theme only) and Andrew Cottee |
Video games
| Years | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire | Original Star Wars themes by John Williams |
