Accomplished Disney Parks composer George Wilkins, known for composing a number of classic scores from Space Mountain to Food Rocks and Horizons, has sadly passed away at the age of 90.
The news of Wilkins’ passing was shared by Tammy Tuckey, the host of The Tammy Tuckey Show, which has hosted interviews with various Disney luminaries over the years, including Wilkins himself.
Born on March 14th, 1934, Wilkins got his start in the world of music in the 1950s as a backup singer and arranger for Patti Page. Heading into the 60s, Wilkins branched out into the world of composing, providing the scores for two Rankin/Bass productions – Return to Oz and The Wacky World of Mother Goose. Prior to his arrival at Disney, many of theme park scores were provided by the equally prolific Buddy Baker, and beginning in 1979, Baker took him on as a protégé.
Fans of classic EPCOT Center will likely be familiar with Wilkins’ initial work, as he arranged the music for a number of early attractions – including Kitchen Kabert, Listen to the Land, World of Motion and Journey to Imagination. One year after EPCOT’s opening, Wilkins’ first project as lead composer was the timeless and memorable score for Horizons, which he also arranged in its entirety. He would go on to provide work on a number of other EPCOT attractions over the years – including the main theme to The Living Seas, Food Rocks, Living with the Land and the original Test Track.
But EPCOT wasn’t the only Disney Park touched by Wilkins’ musical prowess, as he arranged a number of attractions heading into the 90s and 2000s – such as The Great Movie Ride, the 1993 version of Carousel of Progress, Roger Rabbit’s Car Toon Spin and Pooh’s Hunny Hunt. A personal highlight is music introduced in 1984 for Space Mountain at the Magic Kingdom, which still plays today as you enter the queue. Among Wilkins’ final compositions for Disney were California Screamin’, the full Sonny Eclipse show, It’s Tough To Be a Bug and the infamous Superstar Limo.
Wilkins retired from Disney following his final project in 2008, which was writing arrangements for Hong Kong Disneyland’s version of “it’s a small world.” Our thoughts are with George’s family at this time.