Aladdin

Along with “The Little Mermaid”, “Aladdin” was started right at the beginning of my relationship with Disney animation. Howard Ashman and I wrote an entire version of the score that was shelved and put back into development.

When it re-emerged, only two of those songs remained; “Friend Like Me” and “Arabian Nights”. “Prince Ali” came shortly before Howard’s passing. And, after a brief flirtation with writing the lyrics myself (“You Can Count On Me”) I began a new collaboration with Tim Rice, which resulted in “One Jump Ahead” and “A Whole New World”. With me also having to assume the role of music producer alone, the film of “Aladdin” was a huge growth experience for me.