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Carmen Twillie & Lebo M.
From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist
Carmen Twillie & Lebo M. · Carmen Twillie and Lebo M. are the voices that carried the opening of the Disney film The Lion King in 1994. Twillie is an American actress and singer, an alto voice known as a longtime friend of Tommy Morgan and as a guest soloist with his choir. In the film she sang Circle of Life, the song by Elton John and Tim Rice, at the start of the film. Lebo M., a South African composer, sang the Zulu invocation with which the song opens.
Music and breakthrough
Besides this song, Twillie was active as a voice actress and backing singer. In 1997 she sang in the animated film Cats Don't Dance, in 1998 she was the singing voice of Stormella in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie, and she did minor voice roles in The Nightmare Before Christmas from 1993. She was also a backing singer on albums by Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Dionne Warwick and Pink Floyd, on their album A Momentary Lapse of Reason from 1987.
Influence
Circle of Life shows how pop music and film music came together in the 1990s: a pop song by two British makers, sung by an American soul voice, over an opening scene that begins with an African vocal group. That made it one of the best-known openings of an animated film.
Listening
Circle of Life · Carmen Twillie & Lebo M., 1994
In School of Rock
The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.
- The Dream Factory: Film Reel 7NL Reader