Samuel E. Wright

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

Samuel E. Wright was an American actor, voice actor and singer. He was born in 1946 in Camden, South Carolina, and moved to New York in 1968 to work as an actor. He worked mainly in the theatre: on Broadway he took over the role of Leading Player in Pippin from Ben Vereen and appeared in Over Here!. In 1984 he was nominated for a Tony Award for The Tap Dance Kid. In 1998 came a second nomination, as the first Mufasa in the Broadway version of The Lion King.

Music and breakthrough

His best-known work is the voice of Sebastian, the crab in the Disney film The Little Mermaid from 1989. He sang the lead part of Under the Sea, which won the Oscar for best original song, and also Kiss the Girl. He voiced Sebastian again in the sequels and series, up to and including The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Beginning. He also voiced Kron in the film Dinosaur from 2000. In 1988 he played the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie in Bird, Clint Eastwood's film about Charlie Parker, and he was the narrator of the documentary Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser. For the record company he also made albums in a reggae style, including Sebastian Party Gras!.

Influence

Under the Sea shows the reggae and calypso that characterise Sebastian: a light rhythm section, steel drums and a playful, singing voice. Wright showed that a voice actor with real singing power can turn a supporting part in an animated film into a hit. He died in 2021 in Walden, New York.

Listening

• 
  Under the Sea · Samuel E. Wright, 1989

Discography

Studio albums

• 1991Sebastian Party Gras! (soundtrack)

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 7^NL Reader

See also

• Disney Renaissance