John Debney | |
Background: | non_performing_personnel |
Birth Name: | John Cardon Debney |
Birth Date: | 18 August 1956 |
Birth Place: | Glendale, California, U.S. |
Years Active: | 1974–present |
Occupation: | Composer, conductor |
Instrument: | Piano, guitar |
Genre: | Film scores, soundtracks |
Associated Acts: | Jerry Goldsmith, Louis Febre, Danny Elfman |
John Cardon Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American composer and conductor of film, television, and video game scores.[1] 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, , , 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, , 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[2] and Predators.[3]
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 Color 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.
Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio(s) | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1987 | The Wild Pair | Beau Bridges | Trans World Entertainment | Composed with Michel Colombier | |
1988 | The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck | David Keith | |||
Seven Hours to Judgment | Beau Bridges | ||||
Not Since Casanova | Brett Thompson | The Brett Thompson Company West Productions | |||
1989 | Trenchcoat in Paradise | Martha Coolidge |
Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio(s) | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2020 | Come Away | Signature Entertainment (United Kingdom) Relativity Media (United States) Endurance Media Fred Films Yoruba Saxon Productions | |||
I Still Believe | Lionsgate Kingdom Story Company Kevin Downes Productions Erwin Brothers Entertainment | ||||
Asteroid Hunters | W.D. Hogan | Imax Filmed Entertainment (Worldwide) Shaw Organisation (Singapore) Day's End Pictures | Documentary film | ||
Netflix Golden Girl Brillstein Entertainment Partners Burr Productions Get Lifted Film Company 260 Degrees Entertainment | Nominated- Black Reel Award for Outstanding Original Score | ||||
2021 | Clifford the Big Red Dog | ||||
Home Sweet Home Alone | Disney+ 20th Century Studios Hutch Parker Entertainment | Original Home Alone themes by John Williams | |||
American Underdog | Lionsgate Kingdom Story Company Erwin Brothers Entertainment City on a Hill Productions | ||||
2022 | Marry Me | Universal Pictures Nuyorican Productions Perfect World Pictures Kung Fu Monkey Productions | |||
Luck | Nominated- Best Original Score in an Animated Film | ||||
Hocus Pocus 2 | Disney+ Walt Disney Pictures David Kirschner Productions Weimaraner Republic Pictures | ||||
2023 | 80 for Brady | Kyle Marvin | Paramount Pictures 199 Productions Fifth Season Watch This Ready | ||
Robert Rodriguez | Composed with Rebel Rodriguez and Robert Rodriguez | ||||
Under the Boardwalk | Paramount Pictures Paramount Animation Big Kid Pictures | Composed with Jonathan Sadoff | |||
2024 | The Garfield Movie[5] | Mark Dindal | Columbia Pictures Alcon Entertainment DNEG Animation One Cool Group Limited Wayfarer Studios Stage 6 Films Andrews McMeel Entertainment | ||
[6] | Warner Bros. Pictures New Line Cinema Territory Pictures | ||||
Space Cadet | Amazon MGM Studios Stampede Ventures | ||||
Warner Bros. Pictures New Line Cinema Territory Pictures | Post-production | ||||
2025 | In Your Dreams[7] | Alex Woo | Netflix Netflix Animation Sony Pictures Imageworks Kuku Studios | Post-production |
Year | Title | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|
2007 | Lair | ||
2011 | The Sims Medieval | ||
2018 | Madden NFL 19 |