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American composer Alan Irwin Menken was born on July 22, 1949, in Manhattan, New York. He developed a passion for composing from a young age. In 1979, he gained recognition for composing the music for a stage adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's novel God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, sparking a fruitful collaboration with playwright Howard Ashman on the musical Little Shop of Horrors. The musical turned out to be his breakthrough, setting a box office record for the highest-grossing Off-Broadway show of all time. In 1987, Alan Menken and Howard Ashman were recruited by Walt Disney Studios to compose the music for the animated film The Little Mermaid (1989), which became a massive success. His work on the film earned two Academy Awards and made the original soundtrack for The Little Mermaid one of the top-selling albums of 1989. The duo maintained their successful partnership with Disney on films such as Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992). After Howard Ashman's death, Alan Menken collaborated with lyricists including Tim Rice, Stephen Schwartz, and David Zippel to compose for films like Pocahontas (1995), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), and Hercules (1997). Alan Menken's long- standing association with Disney continued into the 2000s and 2010s, as he contributed to films including Enchanted (2007), Tangled (2010), and the modern live-action remakes of Aladdin and The Little Mermaid. Alan Menken's prestigious accolades include eight Academy Awards, a Tony Award, and eleven Grammy Awards, distinguishing him as one of the few to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony, also known as an "EGOT."
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