Forgotten Disney Channel Greats: Battle of the Belles

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As I’ve mentioned before, I was raised on Hilary Duff, Jonas Brothers and Raven Symone music. I am a part of The Disney Chanel Generation and I am proud to say it. However, that was the time when all the Disney stars sang at least one solo song, even if they couldn’t really sing or didn’t want to sing. I wanted to highlight some of the greats that were pushed out of the limelight in favor of the Demis and Mileys of the channel. Here are the first two of my favorites.

  • Christy Carlson Romano was the star of Even Stevens (back when their sitcoms were single camera and not filmed in front of a live studio audience…the good ‘ole days!) and the voice of Kim Possible (I sense Disney Legend credentials…). We first heard her wonderful voice in the episode “Influenza: The Musical,” where she sang “We Went to the Moon In 1969” and “6th Period” in her flu-sparked dreams. I guess they liked her voice, because she received a solo album, a song on the Kim Possible soundtrack, the title track of the animated film Teacher’s Pet and a couple covers on Disneymania albums (which were my life when I was in elementary school). Heck, she was even Belle on Broadway! While she had a pretty solid singing career with Disney, she is NEVER remembered. “Dive In,” the single off of her solo album was so infectious and still gets stuck in my head to this day. Her presence is missed on TV and in the music world.
  • Anneliese Van Der Pol played Chelsea Daniels on the best show Disney Channel has ever aired (that’s not an opinion, that’s a fact), That’s So Raven. Oddly enough, her voice was first highlighted in a musical episode of the sitcom just like Christy, in the song “Alone in the Hallways“. She never received her own album, but she was always prominently featured in the Disney Channel Star covers of Disney classics (“A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes” and “Circle of Life”), sang the theme song for the DCOM Stuck in the Suburbs, sang “A Day In The Sun” on the That’s So Raven Too album and a gorgeous cover of “Candle On The Water” for a Disneymania CD. Anneliese also had the honor of being the final Belle on Broadway. She has continued on the Broadway track, but she is mostly forgotten for her fantastic Disney Channel tunes. She was my favorite Disney Channel singer of my generation. Every time one of her songs came on, I’d always pull a Raven. She also gave us the best line Disney Channel has ever written.

Those are my first two forgotten favorites, and I highly recommend you check out their music. What are your thoughts on these two? Let me know in the comments below or on the discussion boards!

Marshal Knight
Marshal Knight is a pop culture writer based in Orlando, FL. For some inexplicable reason, his most recent birthday party was themed to daytime television. He’d like to thank Sandra Oh.