George Wilkins

Biography and cause of death of George Wilkins

George Wilkins (March 14, 1934 – November 2024) was an American soundtrack composer who created several noteworthy scores and songs for Walt Disney Parks and Resorts.

George Wilkins Life and career

Wilkins got his start in the music industry as a backup vocalist and vocal arranger for Patti Page during the 1950s. In the 1960s, he also co-founded the vocal group the Doodletown Pipers.

By this time, Wilkins broke out as a composer for film and television with his work on the Rankin/Bass productions of Return to Oz (1964) and The Wacky World of Mother Goose (1967).

In 1979, Wilkins joined The Walt Disney Company as a protégé to composer Buddy Baker, and was tasked with writing the arrangements for Listen to the Land and Kitchen Kabaret, but was thrust into the main composer for the new EPCOT Center park after Baker was involved in a car accident.

Wilkins arranged several versions of the song “It’s Fun to Be Free”, for the World of Motion attraction, and arranged the Journey into Imagination ride music.

After several arrangement opportunities, Wilkins was finally tasked with lead composing duties on the Horizons pavilion, after Disney show development head Randy Bright had rejected the Sherman Brothers’ compositions for the ride. Wilkins composed the pavilion’s area loop, as well as all on-ride music and audio cues.

Throughout his time at Disney, Wilkins acted as both a “Composer in Residence” at Walt Disney Productions as well as the Director of Music for Walt Disney Imagineering.

George Wilkins composed the music for the original song We’ve Come So Far for Space Mountain when RCA took over sponsorship for the pavilion in 1985, as well as an instrumental arrangement for the attraction’s queue line, which remains installed in the attraction and can still be heard today.

Wilkins was soon called back to work on EPCOT after being tasked with composing the soundscapes for the new Living Seas pavilion with Russell Brower. Wilkins did all arrangements for Food Rocks, and composed all score and audio cues for Test Track at EPCOT in the late 1990s.

Wilkins’ final project with Disney was writing arrangements for It’s a Small World at Hong Kong Disneyland, before retiring from the company around 2008.

George Wilkins died in November 2024, at the age of 90.

Source: Wikipedia