Wikipedia's first sentence called it “american broadway and film music composer”. Today it says “american composer and conductor”.
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Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
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The opening as it read in 2005
Alan Menken Alan Menken (born July 22 , 1949 ) is an American Broadway and film music composer .1He has collaborated with several renowned lyricists including Howard Ashman (1951-1991), Tim Rice , and Stephen Schwartz . Menken is best known for his work on several Disney animated features , including The Little Mermaid , Beauty and the Beast , and Aladdin . His first successful work was the 1982 Off-Broadway musical Little Shop of Horrors . To date, Menken has received eight Academy Awards .2
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Alan Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken has collaborated with lyricists including Howard Ashman , Tim Rice and Stephen Schwartz .
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The opening as it stood in 2015
Musical artist Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American musical theatre and film composer and pianist.Menken is best known for his scores for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios .His scores for The Little Mermaid , Beauty and the Beast , Aladdin , and Pocahontas have each won him two Academy Awards .He also composed the scores for Little Shop of Horrors , The Hunchback of Notre Dame , Hercules , Newsies , Home on the Range , Enchanted , Tangled , The Shaggy Dog , and Mirror Mirror .Menken has collaborated on several occasions with lyricists including Howard Ashman , Tim Rice , Glenn Slater , Stephen Schwartz , and David Zippel .With eight Academy Award wins (four each for Best Original Score and Best Original Song ), Menken is the second most prolific Oscar winner in a music category after Alfred Newman , who has nine Oscars.
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Musical artist Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, songwriter, music conductor, director and record producer.Menken is best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios .His scores and songs for The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Pocahontas (1995) have each won him two Academy Awards .He also composed the scores and songs for Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Newsies (1992), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Home on the Range (2004), Enchanted (2007), Tangled (2010), among others.He is also known for his work in musical theatre for Broadway and elsewhere.Some of these are based on his Disney films, but other stage hits include Little Shop of Horrors (1982), A Christmas Carol (1994) and Sister Act (2009).Menken has collaborated with such lyricists as Lynn Ahrens , Howard Ashman , Jack Feldman , Tim Rice , Glenn Slater , Stephen Schwartz and David Zippel .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 many other honors.
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The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
American composer (born 1949) Musical artist Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer, pianist, music director, and record producer, best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios .Menken's music for The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Pocahontas (1995) has each won him two Academy Awards . He also composed the scores and songs for Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Newsies (1992), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Home on the Range (2004), Enchanted (2007), Tangled (2010), and Disenchanted (2022), among others. His accolades include winning eight Academy Awards — becoming the second most prolific Oscar winner in the music categories after Alfred Newman (who has 9 Oscars), a Tony Award , eleven Grammy Awards , seven Golden Globe Awards , and a Daytime Emmy Award .Menken is one of eighteen people to have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony ("an EGOT ").He is one of two people to have won a Razzie , an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony ("REGOT").He is also known for his work in musical theater for Broadway and elsewhere. Some of these works are based on his Disney films, but other stage hits include Little Shop of Horrors (1982), A Christmas Carol (1994), and Sister Act (2009).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178482191.
The opening as it stood in 2025 3 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
American composer (born 1949) Musical artist Alan Irwin Menken (born July 22, 1949) is an American composer and conductor. Over his career he has received numerous accolades including winning eight Academy Awards , a Tony Award , eleven Grammy Awards , seven Golden Globe Awards , and a Daytime Emmy Award .He is one of 21 recipients to have won the competitive EGOT (Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony) . He is best known for his scores and songs for films produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios . Menken's contributions to The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Pocahontas (1995) won him two Academy Awards for each film. He also composed the scores and songs for Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Newsies (1992), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Hercules (1997), Home on the Range (2004), Enchanted (2007), Tangled (2010), Disenchanted (2022), and Spellbound (2024), among others. He was Tony-nominated for Beauty and the Beast (1993), The Little Mermaid (2008), Sister Act (2009), and Aladdin (2014).His other stage hits include Little Shop of Horrors (1982), A Christmas Carol (1994), Leap of Faith (2012), and A Bronx Tale (2016).Menken has collaborated with lyricists such as Howard Ashman , Jack Feldman , Tim Rice , Lynn Ahrens , Stephen Schwartz , David Zippel , Glenn Slater , Benj Pasek and Justin Paul , and Lin-Manuel Miranda .
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Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “american broadway and film music composer”. Today it says “american composer and conductor”. Read the current article and compare.
2005
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2020
Oct '23
2025
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What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
american broadway and film music composer
Now
american composer and conductor
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