EGOT, the achievement of having won all four of the major American entertainment awards EMMY/GRAMMY/OSCAR/TONY

Only 15 previously people had achieved EGOT status, but number 16 was named yesterday. American composer, songwriter, music conductor, director and record producer Alan Menken.

Menken is best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He scored and wrote songs for The Little Mermaid , Beauty and the Beast , Aladdin , and Pocahontas .  Mr. Menken also composed the scores and songs for the Broadway musical and films Little Shop of Horrors , and Newsies. Plus honorable mentions must be included for his work on The Hunchback of Notre Dame,  Hercules , Home on the Range , Enchanted , Tangled  and more!

With eight Academy Award wins, Menken is the second most prolific Oscar winner in the music categories after Alfred Newman, who has 9 Oscars. He has also won 11 Grammy Awards, a Tony Award, and a Daytime Emmy Award among many other honors.

At Sunday’s Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony (which focused on children’s, lifestyle and animated programming), Alan Menken won the award for best original song in a children’s, young adult or animated program for Disney Channel’s Rapunzel’s Tangled Adventure. This is not Menken’s first Emmy, but it is his first competitive Emmy. He received an honorary Primetime Emmy in 1990 for his work on “Wonderful Ways to Say No” from Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, an anti-drug special produced by the TV academy. The win last night technically made him an EGOT winner.

John Legend was the most recent winner of the title-EGOT, but click HERE for the full list. Around 30 artists are only one win away.

For fun watch Alan Menken plays his whole songbook in 10 minute medley!

Susan Saunders 7/27/20