John Debney
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John Debney | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | John Cardon Debney Script error: No such module "person date". Glendale, California, U.S. |
| Died | Script error: No such module "person date". |
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| Years active | 1974–present |
| Website | johndebney |
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John Cardon Debney (born August 18, 1956) is an American composer and conductor of film, television, and video game scores.[1] His work encompasses a variety of mediums and genres like comedy, horror, science fiction, thriller, fantasy, and action-adventure. He is a long-time collaborator of Disney and has written music for their films, television series, and theme parks. He has also collaborated with film directors including Donald Petrie, Beau Bridges, Rob Cohen, Kevin Costner, Mel Gibson, Ivan Reitman, Adam Shankman, Walt Becker, Brian Robbins, Jon Favreau, Garry Marshall, Tom Shadyac, Peter Hyams, John A. Davis, Brad Anderson, Howard Deutch, Mark Dindal, Robert Rodriguez, and Paul Tibbitt.
Debney has been the recipient of three Primetime Emmy Awards and was nominated for an Academy Award for his score for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ (2004).
Early life and education
John Debney, the son of Disney Studios producer Louis Debney (Zorro, The Mickey Mouse Club), was born in Glendale, California, near Disney's headquarters. He grew up in the city,[citation needed] began guitar lessons at six, and played in rock bands in college. He earned a B.A. degree in music composition from the California Institute of Arts in Santa Clarita in 1979.
Career
After ending his career with Disney, John Debney worked for Mike Post. Debney furthered his hands-on training working with Hanna-Barbera composer Hoyt Curtin. Then Debney scored television projects including Disneyland, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, SeaQuest DSV, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, The Cape, The Lazarus Man, Piggsburg Pigs!, The Further Adventures of SuperTed, Doctor Who, Cagney & Lacey, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Young Riders, The New Yogi Bear Show, Police Academy: The Animated Series, Fame, Captain Power and the Soldiers of the Future, Dragon's Lair, Freshman Dorm, Pop Quiz, and Dink, the Little Dinosaur, for which he won an Emmy for Best Main Title.
In the early 1990s, Debney began to score indie films and Disneyland attractions. In 1991, Debney composed the music for Phantom Manor and It's a Small World (also used at Disneyland from 1993 to 2002) in Disneyland Paris and SpectroMagic at Magic Kingdom. In 1993, he scored his first studio feature, the Disney comedy Hocus Pocus starring Bette Midler. In 1994, Debney wrote Friends Forever with Greg Scelsa from Greg & Steve's album We All Live Together, Vol. 5.
Debney has since composed scores for Cats & Dogs, The Passion of the Christ, Bruce Almighty, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Elf, Sin City, Chicken Little, Liar Liar, Spy Kids, The Scorpion King, The Princess Diaries,[2] Predators, and other films.[3]
He has also composed scores for Lair and The Sims Medieval, both video games. In 2010, he composed the theme music for the Nickelodeon television series Supah Ninjas. He composed some of Disney Parks's Nighttime Spectaculars including World Of Color Celebrate! in Disney California Adventure, The Magic, The Memories And You!, Celebrate the Magic in Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom, and Celebrate! Tokyo Disneyland in Tokyo Disneyland in addition to an arrangement of "When You Wish Upon a Star" as a fanfare (the music played when the Walt Disney Pictures logo was shown) from 1985 to 2006.
Filmography
Film
1980s
| Year | Title | Director(s) | Studio(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | The Wild Pair | Beau Bridges | Trans World Entertainment | Composed with Michel Colombier |
| 1988 | The Further Adventures of Tennessee Buck | David Keith | Template:Screen reader-only | |
| Seven Hours to Judgment | Beau Bridges | Template:Screen reader-only | ||
| Not Since Casanova | Brett Thompson | The Brett Thompson Company West Productions |
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| 1989 | Trenchcoat in Paradise | Martha Coolidge | Finnegan/Pinchuk Productions MGM Television |
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1990s
2000s
2010s
2020s
Television
Video games
| Year | Title | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Lair | Template:Screen reader-only |
| 2011 | The Sims Medieval | Template:Screen reader-only |
| 2018 | Madden NFL 19 | Template:Screen reader-only |
Awards and nominations
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."John Debney - Award-winning Composer". John Debney. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."John Debney to Score 'Predators' Prequel". Bloody-disgusting.com. February 27, 2010. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."A Peek Behind the Scenes of a Predators Scoring Session". Dreadcentral.com. June 7, 2010. Retrieved June 23, 2012.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."John Debney to Score Ivan Reitman's 'Draft Day' | Film Music Reporter". November 25, 2013. Retrieved December 16, 2013.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."John Debney to Score 'Ice Age: Collision Course'". Retrieved January 9, 2026.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."John Debney Scoring Mark Dindal's 'The Garfield Movie'". Retrieved November 13, 2023.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."John Debney Scoring Kevin Costner's 'Horizon: An American Saga'". Retrieved September 2, 2023.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."John Debney Scoring Alex Woo's Netflix Animated Film 'In Your Dreams'". Retrieved August 7, 2024.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."John Debney Scoring Derek Drymon's 'The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants'". Retrieved April 15, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."John Debney Scoring Adam Shankman's 'The Man with the Bag'". Film Music Reporter. September 13, 2025. Retrieved December 28, 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."John Debney & Bruce Broughton Scoring Prime Video's 'The Gray House'". Retrieved January 9, 2026.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."D.I.C.E. Awards By Video Game Details Lair". interactive.org. Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
External links
- John Debney discography at Discogs
- John Debney at IMDbTemplate:Edit at Wikidata
- John Debney's official website
- John Debney Tribute at Filmtracks.com
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