Joel McNeely

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.

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 has also composed the score for Disneyland Paris '''s Entertainment Shows including: Disney Dreams! & Mickey and the Magician, and Tokyo Disneyland's Disney Gifts of Christmas.

McNeely has produced three of Seth MacFarlane's studio albums, including 2011's Music Is Better Than Words, 2014's Holiday for Swing, 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 Year Title Director(s) Studio(s) Notes 1987 You Talkin' to Me? Charles Winkler United Artists 1988 Splash, Too Greg Antonacci Walt Disney TelevisionABC TV movie 1989 Parent Trap III Mollie Miller Walt Disney TelevisionDisney Channel Television film Polly Debbie Allen Walt Disney TelevisionNBC TV movie Parent Trap: Hawaiian Honeymoon Mollie Miller Walt Disney TelevisionNBC Television film

1990s Year Title Director(s) Studio(s) Notes 1990 Hitler's Daughter James A. Contner Wilshire Court ProductionsUSA Network TV movie Polly: Comin' Home! Debbie Allen Walt Disney TelevisionNBC TV movie 1991 Frankenstein: The College Years Tom Shadyac Fox TV movie Samantha Stephen La Rocque Academy Entertainment 1992 Lady Against the Odds Bradford May MGM TelevisionNBC TV movie Police Story 3: Super Cop Stanley Tong Dimension Films US version 1994 Iron Will Charles Haid Walt Disney Pictures Radioland Murders Mel Smith LucasfilmUniversal Pictures Squanto: A Warrior's Tale Xavier KollerChristopher Stoia Walt Disney Pictures Terminal Velocity Deran Sarafian Nomura Babcock & BrownInterscope CommunicationsPolyGram Filmed EntertainmentHollywood Pictures 1995 Gold Diggers: The Secret of Bear Mountain Kevin James Dobson Bregman/Baer ProductionsUniversal Pictures 1996 Flipper Alan Shapiro The Bubble FactoryUniversal Pictures 1997 Vegas Vacation Stephen Kessler Jerry Weintraub ProductionsWarner Bros. Pictures Wild America William Dear Morgan Creek ProductionsWarner Bros. Pictures Buffalo Soldiers Charles Haid Turner PicturesTNT TV movie Air Force One Wolfgang Petersen Columbia PicturesBeacon PicturesSony Pictures Releasing Buena Vista International Additional music only. Score composed by Jerry Goldsmith1998 The Avengers Jeremiah S. Chechik Warner Bros. Pictures Replaced Michael Kamen Zack and Reba Nicole Bettauer Live Entertainment Soldier Paul W. S. Anderson Morgan Creek ProductionsJerry Weintraub ProductionsWarner Bros. Pictures 1999 Virus John Bruno Mutual Film CompanyValhalla Motion PicturesDark Horse EntertainmentUniversal Pictures Road Rage Deran Sarafian NBC StudiosNBC TV movie

2000s Year Title Director(s) Studio(s) Notes 2000 Sally Hemings: An American Scandal Charles Haid CBS ProductionsCBS TV movie Santa Who? William Dear ABC TV movie 2001 Lover's Prayer Reverge Anselmo Image Entertainment 2002 Return to Never Land Robin BuddDonovan Cook DisneyToon StudiosA. Film A/SWalt Disney Pictures First theatrical score for an animated film 2003 The Jungle Book 2 Steve Trenbirth DisneyToon StudiosWalt Disney Pictures Ghosts of the Abyss James Cameron Ascot EliteGolden VillageWalden MediaWalt Disney Pictures (North America)UGC Fox Distribution (International) Holes Andrew Davis Phoenix PicturesWalden MediaWalt Disney Pictures Destino Dominique Monféry Walt Disney Feature AnimationWalt Disney Pictures Short film Uptown Girls Boaz Yakin Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer 2004 Stateside Reverge Anselmo Samuel Goldwyn Films America's Heart and Soul Louis Schwartzberg Walt Disney Pictures Mulan II Darrell RooneyLynne Southerland Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentDisneyToon Studios Direct-to-video filmThe Stepford WivesFrank OzParamount Pictures DreamWorks PicturesAdditional music only. Score composed by Piotr Olszewski. 2005 Pooh's Heffalump Movie Frank Nissen Walt Disney PicturesDisneyToon Studios Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch Michael LaBashTony Leondis Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentDisneyToon Studios Direct-to-video film2006 Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure Dominique Monféry NelvanaStudioCanal The Fox and the Hound 2 Jim Kammerud Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentDisneyToon Studios Direct-to-video film 2007 Cinderella III: A Twist in Time Frank Nissen Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentDisneyToon Studios Direct-to-video film I Know Who Killed Me Chris Sivertson 360 PicturesTriStar Pictures 2008 Tinker Bell Bradley Raymond Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentDisneyToon Studios Direct-to-video film 2009 Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure Klay Hall Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentDisneyToon Studios Direct-to-video film

2010s Year Title Director(s) Studio(s) Notes 2010 Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue Bradley Raymond Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentDisneyToon Studios Direct-to-video film 2011 Pixie Hollow Games Bradley Raymond Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentDisneyToon Studios Television special 2012 Secret of the Wings Bobs GannawayPeggy Holmes Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentDisneyToon Studios Direct-to-video film 2014 The Pirate Fairy Peggy Holmes Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentDisneyToon Studios Direct-to-video film A Million Ways to Die in the West Seth MacFarlane Fuzzy Door ProductionsMedia Rights CapitalUniversal Pictures Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast Steve Loter Walt Disney Studios Home EntertainmentDisneyToon Studios Direct-to-video film

Television 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! 2017–2022 The Orville with John Debney, Bruce Broughton (pilot and theme only) and Andrew Cottee

Video games Years Title Notes1996 Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire Original Star Wars themes by John Williams

Awards and nominations Year Award Nominated work Result 1993 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Composition for a Series (Dramatic Underscore) The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Young Indiana Jones and the Scandal of 1920 1993 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles: Young Indiana Jones and the Mystery of the Blues 1998 ASCAP Award for Top Box Office Films Air Force One 2003 Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production Return to Never Land 2012 Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Music Is Better Than Words 2012 Annie Award for Best Music in a Television Production Pixie Hollow Games 2012 International Film Music Critics Award for Best Original Score for an Animated Film Secret of the Wings 2012 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Music Direction Seth MacFarlane: Swingin' in Concert 2013 Annie Award for Music in a Feature Production Secret of the Wings 2015 International Film Music Critics Award for Best Original Score for a Comedy Film A Million Ways to Die in the West