Joel McNeely

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Joel McNeely
Born (1959-03-28) March 28, 1959 (age 62)
Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
GenresFilm score, pop, jazz
Occupation(s)Composer, arranger, pianist, musician, songwriter, producer
InstrumentsPiano, organ, keyboard, backing vocals
Years active1986–present
LabelsUniversal Republic, Republic
Associated actsSeth MacFarlane
Websitewww.joelmcneely.com

Joel McNeely (born March 28, 1959) is an American composer, 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 The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He frequently collaborates with Seth MacFarlane and contributes to various projects by The Walt Disney Company.

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 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, 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 is also composed the score for Disneyland Paris's Entertainment Shows including: Disney Dreams! & Mickey And The Magician.

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[]

Year Title Director(s) Studio(s) Notes
1990 Hitler's Daughter James A. Contner Wilshire Court Productions
USA Network
TV movie
Polly: Comin' Home! Debbie Allen Walt Disney Television
NBC
TV movie
1991 Frankenstein: The College Years Tom Shadyac FOX TV movie
Samantha Stephen La Rocque Academy Entertainment N/A
1992 Lady Against the Odds Bradford May MGM Television
NBC
TV movie
Police Story 3: Super Cop Stanley Tong Dimension Films US version
1994 Iron Will Charles Haid Walt Disney Pictures N/A
Radioland Murders Mel Smith Lucasfilm
Universal Pictures
N/A
Squanto: A Warrior's Tale Xavier Koller
Christopher Stoia
Walt Disney Pictures N/A
Terminal Velocity Deran Sarafian Nomura Babcock & Brown
Interscope Communications
PolyGram Filmed Entertainment
Hollywood Pictures
N/A
1995 Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain Kevin James Dobson Bregman/Baer Productions
Universal Pictures
N/A
1996 Flipper Alan Shapiro The Bubble Factory
Universal Pictures
N/A
1997 Vegas Vacation Stephen Kessler Jerry Weintraub Productions
Warner Bros. Pictures
N/A
Wild America William Dear Morgan Creek Productions
Warner Bros. Pictures
N/A
Buffalo Soldiers Charles Haid Turner Pictures
TNT
TV movie
1998 The Avengers Jeremiah S. Chechik Warner Bros. Pictures Replaced Michael Kamen.
Zack and Reba Nicole Bettauer Live Entertainment N/A
Soldier Paul W. S. Anderson Morgan Creek Productions
Jerry Weintraub Productions
Warner Bros. Pictures
N/A
1999 Virus John Bruno Mutual Film Company
Valhalla Motion Pictures
Dark Horse Entertainment
Universal Pictures
N/A
Road Rage Deran Sarafian NBC Studios
NBC
TV movie

2000s[]

Year Title Director(s) Studio(s) Notes
2000 Sally Hemings: An American Scandal Charles Haid CBS Productions
CBS
TV movie
Santa Who? William Dear ABC TV movie
2001 Lover's Prayer Reverge Anselmo Image Entertainment N/A
2002 Return to Never Land Robin Budd
Donovan Cook
DisneyToon Studios
A. Film A/S
Walt Disney Pictures
N/A
2003 The Jungle Book 2 Steve Trenbirth DisneyToon Studios
Walt Disney Pictures
N/A
Ghosts of the Abyss James Cameron Ascot Elite
Golden Village
Walden Media
Walt Disney Pictures (North America)
UGC Fox Distribution (International)
N/A
Holes Andrew Davis Phoenix Pictures
Walden Media
Walt Disney Pictures
N/A
Destino Dominique Monféry Walt Disney Feature Animation
Walt Disney Pictures
Short film
Uptown Girls Boaz Yakin Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer N/A
2004 Stateside Reverge Anselmo Samuel Goldwyn Films N/A
America's Heart and Soul Louis Schwartzberg Walt Disney Pictures N/A
Mulan II Darrell Rooney
Lynne Southerland
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
DisneyToon Studios
Direct-to-video film
2005 Pooh's Heffalump Movie Frank Nissen Walt Disney Pictures
DisneyToon Studios
N/A
Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch Michael LaBash
Tony Leondis
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
DisneyToon Studios
Direct-to-video film
2006 Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure Dominique Monféry Nelvana
StudioCanal
N/A
The Fox and the Hound 2 Jim Kammerud Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
DisneyToon Studios
Direct-to-video film
2007 Cinderella III: A Twist in Time Frank Nissen Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
DisneyToon Studios
Direct-to-video film
I Know Who Killed Me Chris Sivertson 360 Pictures
TriStar Pictures
N/A
2008 Tinker Bell Bradley Raymond Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
DisneyToon Studios
Direct-to-video film
2009 Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure Klay Hall Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
DisneyToon Studios
Direct-to-video film

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
1986–1988 Our House
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
1998 Buddy Faro
2000–2002 Dark Angel
2001 All Souls
2002 The Court
2009–present American Dad!
2017–present The Orville with John Debney, Bruce Broughton (Pilot and theme only) and

Awards and nominations[]

Year Award Nominated work Result
1993 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920" Won
1993 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues Nominated
1998 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films Air Force One Won
2003 Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production Return to Never Land Nominated
2012 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album[3] Music Is Better Than Words Nominated
2012 Annie Award for Best Music in a Television Production Pixie Hollow Games Nominated
2012 International Film Music Critics Award for Best Original Score for an Animated Film Secret of the Wings Nominated
2012 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction Seth MacFarlane: Swingin' in Concert Nominated
2013 Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production Secret of the Wings Nominated
2015 International Film Music Critics Award for Best Original Score for a Comedy Film A Million Ways to Die in the West Nominated

References[]

  1. ^ Trakin, Roy (May 15, 2014). "Seth MacFarlane Set to Release Christmas Album". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  2. ^ "Joel McNeely to Score Disney's 'Legend of the NeverBeast'". Film Music Reporter. June 14, 2014. Retrieved June 15, 2014.
  3. ^ Montgomery, James. "Grammy Nominations: The Biggest Shocks And Snubs". MTV. Retrieved December 15, 2012.

External links[]

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