Multi Oscar-winning composer and songwriter Alan Menken studied piano and violin in high school, received further educated at New York University, and chose music over medicine as a career after graduation. He began his career as a songwriter, but a chance meeting with lyricist Howard Ashman brought Menken to the world of musical theatre, where he flourished. Menken and Ashman debuted with "God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater" in 1979, and went on to collaborate on such hit shows as "Her Pilgrim Soul", "The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz", "King David", "A Christmas Carol", "Weird Romance", and of course "Little Shop of Horrors". When "Little Shop" was turned into a movie in 1986, Menken's name began to be associated with film music, and he was hired to breathe musical life into the (at the time) ailing Disney animation studio.

Through collaborations with great lyricists such as Ashman, Tim Rice and Stephen Schwartz, Menken almost single-handedly revived the fortunes of the studio's animation department, writing songs and score for now-classic films such as "The Little Mermaid" (1989), "Beauty and the Beast" (1991), "Aladdin" (1992), "Pocahontas" (1995) and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" (1996), and winning an astounding eight Academy Awards on the way, making him the third highest individual Oscar-winner in history. However, Menken's sixth score for the Magic Kingdom, "Hercules" in 1997, was a massive flop, both critically and commercially, and Menken's contract with the studio was terminated. Shockingly, he has not scored a movie since 1997, although he has continued to be busy on Broadway and in other forms of musical theatre, premiering "King David" in late 1997, and supervision a new stage production of "Little Shop of Horrors" starring Hunter Foster and Kerry Butler. He finally made a comeback in 2004 with the score for a new animated movie called "Home on the Range", but the film was an unfortunate flop. Menken lives in upstate New York with his wife Janice and his daughters, Anna and Nora.

Credit: moviemusicuk.us