John Kavanaugh

John William Kavanaugh
John William Kavanaugh
	John W. Kavanaugh
Born	Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Alma mater	Rollins College
Occupation	Composer/Lyricist
Website	johnkavanaugh.net

John William Kavanaugh is an American composer, lyricist and musical director who is currently serving as songwriter for Disney Television Animation.^[1] He is the recipient of 7 Emmy nominations and was awarded the 2014 Daytime Emmy Award for Sofia The First Main Title theme song with co-lyricist Craig Gerber.^[2] While working on Sofia The First, John was tapped to write songs for Disney’s First Latina princess, the award winning Elena of Avalor. John is now penning the songs and serving as music director on the series Alice's Wonderland Bakery which is in production and set to premiere in 2022.

His songs can also be heard in several hit movies, including Disney's Descendants 3 , Winnie The Pooh film Springtime with Roo and Nickelodeon's Globehunters.^[3]^[4] He co-wrote the scores to Curious George Live for NBC Universal, Dreams are Universal for Universal Studios Japan, Flintstones: The Musical for Universal Studios Hollywood, as well as numerous songs for Sesame Street Live and Tokyo DisneySea.^[5] 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[]

Year	Award	Song	Category/Award	Shared with	Result
2021	Daytime Emmy Awards	"Something In The Air" "Elena of Avalor: Sweetheart's Day"	Outstanding Original Song in a Preschool, Children's or Animated Program	Rachel Ruderman and Craig Gerber	Nominated
2020	Daytime Emmy Awards	"Never Leave", "Elena of Avalor: Movin' on Up"	Outstanding Original Song in a Children's, Young Adult or Animated Program	Jeffrey M. Howard and Craig Gerber	Nominated
2019	Daytime Emmy Awards	"For One And All", "Sofia the First: Forever Royal"	Outstanding Original Song in a Children's or Animated Program	Craig Gerber	Nominated
2019	Daytime Emmy Awards	"Fallin' Like a Rock", "Elena of Avalor: A Lava Story"	Outstanding Original Song in a Children's or Animated Program	Craig Gerber, Silvia Olivas and Kerri Grant	Nominated
2019	Annie Awards	Elena of Avalor	Outstanding Achievement in Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production	Tony Morales, Craig Gerber, Rachel Ruderman and Silvia Olivas	Nominated
2014	Primetime Emmy Awards	"Merroway Cove", "Sofia the First: The Floating Palace"	Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics	Craig Gerber	Nominated
2014	Daytime Emmy Awards	"Sofia the First: Main Title Theme"	Outstanding Original Song - Main Title and Promo	Craig Gerber	Winner
2014	Daytime Emmy Awards	"I Belong", "Sofia the First: The Princess Test"	Outstanding Original Song	Craig Gerber	Nominated
2014	Annie Awards	Sofia the First	Outstanding Achievement in Music in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production	Kevin Kliesch and Craig Gerber	Nominated