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Leigh Harline

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Leigh Harline was an American film composer and songwriter, best known for his work for Walt Disney. He was born in Salt Lake City in 1907, the youngest of thirteen children of Swedish immigrants. He studied piano and organ at the University of Utah and moved to California in 1928, where he worked at radio stations as a composer, conductor, arranger, singer and announcer. In 1931 he wrote the music for the first radio broadcast from the West Coast to be carried across the whole country.

Music and breakthrough

Disney hired him, and he wrote more than fifty pieces, including for the Silly Symphonies series. For the first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs from 1937, he orchestrated the music together with Frank Churchill and Paul Smith. In 1940 came Pinocchio, for which he wrote the score with Paul Smith and most of the songs with the lyricist Ned Washington. The film won the Oscar for best score, and Harline and Washington won the Oscar for best song with When You Wish Upon a Star. That song has been heard in Disney's opening logo since 1985.

Influence

In 1941 Harline left Disney and wrote for other studios, including for Mr. Bug Goes to Town, You Were Never Lovelier, Road to Utopia, The Enemy Below, Warlock and The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm. His melodies are simple and singable, and they defined the sound of the early Disney films. He died in Long Beach in 1969.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen to When You Wish Upon a Star from Pinocchio and notice the falling and rising melodic line and the soft accompaniment of the orchestra.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

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Categories: Artists