Alan Menken has had one of the most successful musical careers of this or any other generation. He's written the songs and the scores that millions grew up with thanks to his continued work with the Walt Disney Company, and now, thanks to that relationship, Alan Menken has become the 16th person to earn the EGOT, winning each of the top awards in the fields of television, music, film, and theater.
The Emmy was the award that eluded him the longest, but now he has it, as the Daytime Emmy Awards were recently given out, and (via EW) Alan Menken and Glenn Slater won the award for Outstanding Original Song in a Children's, Young Adult or Animated Program, for the song 'Waiting in the Wings" from Disney's Tangled: The Series. Menken and Slater had previously been nominated for a pair of Primetime Emmys for musical work done for the series Galavant and The Neighbors. Menken was given an honorary Emmy in 1990 but honorary awards aren't counted toward the EGOT.
Alan Menken's Tony award came in 2012 for Best Original Score for the musical Newsies. He was also nominated for the same award for the Broadway adaptations of Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and Sister Act.
The Oscar and Grammy both came at the beginning of Alan Menken's association with the Disney company when Menken and lyricist Howard Ashman won both awards for the song Under the Sea from The Little Mermaid. Menken also won the Oscar for Best Original Score for Mermaid.
Considering Alan Menken's long career making iconic music it's actually a bit shocking that it took him this long to acquire these four awards, but at the same time his work had been so focused on film for so long that there just weren't as many opportunities to win the other awards. Menken had a number of theater awards before his film career began, but he may have never had a chance at the Tony had it not been for the stage adaptations of the Disney movies he had worked on.
Several others who have achieved the EGOT have strong Disney connections. The last person to achieve the honor was Tim Rice, whose first Oscar came with the Best Original Song award for "A Whole New World" from Aladdin, alongside Alan Menken. The 12th person to do the EGOT has actually done it twice over, winning all four awards two times. Robert Lopez's two Oscars for Best Original Song are for "Let it Go" from Frozen and 'Remember Me" from Coco.
Alan Menken tweeted out his response his honor this morning.
Of course, Alan Menken's opportunity to win awards is far from over. He's currently working with Lin-Manuel Miranda on the music for the upcoming live-action version of The Little Mermaid, as well as many other projects that could lead to many more nominations and awards before it's all said and done.
