Joel McNeely
{{short description|American composer (born 1959)}}
{{BLP sources|date=February 2013}}
{{Infobox musical artist
| name = Joel McNeely
| background = non_performing_personnel
| image = Joel McNeely.jpg
| birth_name =
| alias =
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|mf=yes|1959|3|28}}
| birth_place = Madison, Wisconsin, U.S.
| instrument = Piano, organ, keyboard, backing vocals
| genre = Film score, pop, jazz
| occupation = Composer, conductor, arranger, pianist, musician, songwriter, producer
| years_active = 1986–present
| label = Universal Republic, Republic
| associated_acts = Seth MacFarlane
| website = {{url|https://www.joelmcneely.com}}
}}
Joel McNeely (born March 28, 1959) is an American composer, conductor, 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 George Lucas's 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|date=June 2018}}
LucasArts chose McNeely to compose the soundtrack to the 1996 Star Wars video 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, The Jungle Book 2, 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,{{cite web|url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/seth-macfarlane-set-release-christmas-704591|title=Seth MacFarlane Set to Release Christmas Album|work=The Hollywood Reporter|last=Trakin|first=Roy|date=May 15, 2014|access-date=August 29, 2014}} 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==
| class="wikitable sortable" | ||||
| width = 30px | Year
! width = 300px | Title ! width = 150px | Director(s) ! width = 250px | Studio(s) ! width = 150px | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | You Talkin' to Me? | Charles Winkler | United Artists | {{N/A}} |
| 1988 | Splash, Too | Greg Antonacci | Walt Disney Television ABC | TV movie |
| rowspan="3"| 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==
==2000s==
==2010s==
==2020s==
| class="wikitable sortable" | ||||
| width = 30px | Year
! width = 300px | Title ! width = 150px | Director(s) ! width = 250px | Studio(s) ! width = 150px | Notes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | The Naked Gun | Akiva Schaffer | Paramount Pictures | Post-production |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" | ||
| Years
! Title ! Notes | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Blacke's Magic | |
| 1986–1988 | Our House | |
| 1988 | Aaron's Way | |
| 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 | 9 episodes |
| 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 Andrew Cottee |
=Video games=
| class="wikitable sortable" | ||
| Years
! Title ! Notes | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire | Original Star Wars Themes by John Williams |
Awards and nominations
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{official}}
- {{IMDb name|id=0006193|name=Joel McNeely}}
- [http://www.filmmusicsite.com/en/composers.cgi?go=interview&coid=303&firstname=Joel&lastname=McNeely Interview with Joel McNeely] at FilmMusicSite.com
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Joel McNeely
|list1 =
{{EmmyAward MusicCompositionSeries}}
{{International Film Music Critics Association Award for Best Original Score for Television}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McNeely, Joel}}
Category:American classical musicians
Category:American film score composers
Category:American male film score composers
Category:American television composers
Category:Animated film score composers
Category:Classical musicians from Wisconsin
Category:American male television composers
Category:Musicians from Madison, Wisconsin