Who Performed The Disney Afternoon Themes?

[Pasta67]

Howdy, all! It's been a while.

I've been in a bit of a Disney music mood lately, so I've been ordering soundtracks left and right. I was delighted to discover that Amazon's MP3 store (and iTunes, I'm sure, but I didn't check) had some of the Disney Afternoon theme songs. They've got the full versions of the Gummi Bears, DuckTales, Rescue Rangers, and TaleSpin themes, along with a clean version of the Darkwing Duck theme (without the sound effects). Score!

The only problem is that Disney is really, really bad about crediting the people who actually sing these songs. The only artist credited for any of them is "The Disney Afternoon Studio Chorus." Wow, so helpful. Does anyone know who actually sings these themes? We know that the DuckTales theme is performed by Jeff Pescetto and that the Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers theme is performed by The Jets, but who sings the others?

I've come across a few websites that credit Gene Miller for the Gummi Bears theme, Jim Gilstrap for the TaleSpin theme, and Jeff Pescetto again for Darkwing's theme. None of these are sourced, though. Can anyone confirm these?

I know this is a random question, but thanks in advance to anyone who can help!

[sunhuntin]

no idea for those ones, but i remember seeing wayne brady credited for the weekenders theme.

[271286]

Just checked out The Jets on Spotify and wow they are completely unrecognizable...

[milojthatch]

Just checked out The Jets on Spotify and wow they are completely unrecognizable...

The Jets were a semi-popular group in the 1980's. They had one or two songs that reached the Top 40 if I remember correctly.

As for the original question, I think I have the answer, but I want to make sure it's accurate, so I've reached out to some of my Disney Afternoon contacts to be sure. Below is a list of all of the "Disney Afternoon-era" titles and I've filled in for now who I know for sure was the singer. I'll up-date this list as I receive confirmation from my sources.


Disney Afternoon Theme Song Singers:
Adventures of the Gummi Bears - Joseph Williams
DuckTales - Jeff Pescetto
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers - The Jets
TaleSpin - Jim Gilstrap
Darkwing Duck - Jeff Pescetto
Goof Troop- Phil Perry
Bonkers
Aladdin: The Series
Gargoyles - Keith David (spoken)
The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show
The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa
Quack Pack
The Mighty Ducks

Disney Afternoon-era Theme Song Singers:
The Wuzzles
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Little Mermaid - Instrumental
Raw Toonage
Marsupilami

[estefan]

I'm surprised that the singers weren't credited in the end credits for the Disney Afternoon shows. Was it a union thing or a decision on Disney's part?

[milojthatch]

So I checked with Michael Silversher, who co-wrote many of the various theme songs in question. We hope to have him on our Disney TV Animation podcast DAF Radio early next year. For now, this is what he send me in answering this question, enjoy!

I know that the Gummi Bear Theme was sung by Joseph Williams, son of John, about the time he became the lead singer of Toto. Now, Duck Tales and Rescue Rangers were written by Mark Mueller, and I don't know who did them. I co-produced the Disney Afternoon album with Robert Kraft, but I can't find the insert with all the credits on it to remind me who else did what. We couldn't get Joe Williams for the album version of Gummi Bears but i think we got all the others. I'll try to find that. I know the people who sang Tale Spin did the album, as well. and that Jim Gilstrap was one if the trio. He sang the opening to Stevie Wonder's You Are The Sunshine Of My Life. I'll have to check. It's been quite awhile!!

If he or any of my other contacts remember anything else, I'll be sure to list it.

[Pasta67]

Thanks so much, milojthatch! And a big thanks for everyone else who responded! That's a ton of help.

I love that they got Jeff Pescetto to do both DuckTales and Darkwing Duck, since they take place in the same universe. That's awesome.

Hmm, so Joseph Williams did the TV version of the Gummi Bears theme, but not the album version? That's surprising; the two versions sound nearly identical. I'd have bet money that it was the same guy. Hopefully we'll be able to find out who did the album version someday.

Thanks again!

EDIT: This site seems pretty confident about who did what. Does any of this help?

[milojthatch]

Thanks so much, milojthatch! And a big thanks for everyone else who responded! That's a ton of help.

I love that they got Jeff Pescetto to do both DuckTales and Darkwing Duck, since they take place in the same universe. That's awesome.

Hmm, so Joseph Williams did the TV version of the Gummi Bears theme, but not the album version? That's surprising; the two versions sound nearly identical. I'd have bet money that it was the same guy. Hopefully we'll be able to find out who did the album version someday.

Thanks again!

EDIT: This site seems pretty confident about who did what. Does any of this help?

That album listing could be right. I'm very much not done tracking this information down and with enough contacts that worked on these shows, I'm sure I'll get to the bottom sooner rather than later. Thanks for bring this issue up!

[Scamander]

Is Joseph Williams the son of that John Williams? That's awesome!

I don't know if it is of any interest, but there is another English version of the Ducktales theme, sung by Thomas Anders. It was made for the first German broadcast. Don't ask me why they didn't just use the original theme- I have no idea!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys7t-zYnLZk

[ChrisLyne]

Just checked out The Jets on Spotify and wow they are completely unrecognizable...

The Jets were a semi-popular group in the 1980's. They had one or two songs that reached the Top 40 if I remember correctly.

As for the original question, I think I have the answer, but I want to make sure it's accurate, so I've reached out to some of my Disney Afternoon contacts to be sure. Below is a list of all of the "Disney Afternoon-era" titles and I've filled in for now who I know for sure was the singer. I'll up-date this list as I receive confirmation from my sources.


Disney Afternoon Theme Song Singers:
Adventures of the Gummi Bears - Joseph Williams
DuckTales - Jeff Pescetto
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers - The Jets
TaleSpin - Jim Gilstrap
Darkwing Duck - Jeff Pescetto
Goof Troop- Phil Perry
Bonkers
Aladdin: The Series
Gargoyles - Keith David (spoken)
The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show
The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa
Quack Pack
The Mighty Ducks

Disney Afternoon-era Theme Song Singers:
The Wuzzles
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Little Mermaid - Instrumental
Raw Toonage
Marsupilami

Aladdin: The Series' Arabian Nights was performed by Brian Hannan (it was reused from Return of Jafar).

[bruno_wbt]

Since we're talking about Disney Afternoon Themes, Disney just posted that video!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txj6ROnIUIo

[milojthatch]

Aladdin: The Series' Arabian Nights was performed by Brian Hannan (it was reused from Return of Jafar).

Actually, I just learned that that is incorrect. I just got a message back from Bambi Moé, who was a music producer at Disney TV Animation at the time, and she filled in some of the missing information. Below in red is what she put in:

Disney Afternoon Theme Song Singers:
Adventures of the Gummi Bears - Joseph Williams -- Joey Scarbury sang the Gummi Bear Theme song (I sang a step out part)
DuckTales - Jeff Pescetto
Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers - The Jets
TaleSpin - Jim Gilstrap
Darkwing Duck - Jeff Pescetto
Goof Troop- Phil Perry
Bonkers – Kevin Quinn
Aladdin: The Series- I recorded this in Australia and the Disney sites wrongly credits someone named Brian Hannan. We wanted Bruce Adler but he was unavailable. I’ll have to see if I can find the singers name…I think it was Paul... last name starts with a Ka
Gargoyles - Keith David (spoken)
The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show
The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa- Ernie Sabella and Nathan Lane
Quack Pack – Eddie Money
The Mighty Ducks – Mickey Thomas from Jefferson Starship

Disney Afternoon-era Theme Song Singers:
The Wuzzles
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
The Little Mermaid - Instrumental
Raw Toonage – this was a Randy Petersen and Kevin Quinn composition and production. The “creative” powers at Disney wanted it to remind you of “Oh Yeah” by Yello.
Marsupilami

[milojthatch]

I haven't been on this forum in a long time and honestly probably won't be here much going forward, but a Disney Afternoon fan on Twitter reminded me that I haven't updated this thread in a while. So, here we go.

The 80's pop group The Jets only sang the Rescue Rangers song for the music video. It was DuckTales theme song singer Jeff Pescetto who also sang the version for the TV show. Joseph Williams of Toto fame did in fact sing the Gummi Bears theme song for the TV show, but it seems that Joey Scarbury filled in for the album version. I've actually interviewed a few of The Jets and Mr. Pescetto since I originally commented on this thread.

I've also talked with fellow animation historian Tim Van Hal, who has a number of documents pertaining to the Disney Afternoon era productions. There are a few holes still. I'll try to update them as I can. Don't necessarily trust IMdB by the way, I can't tell you how many times I've found it to be off after talking to the actual tallent.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Disney Afternoon Theme Song Singers:
Adventures of the Gummi Bears - Joseph Williams (Joey Scarbury sang the album version w/ Bambi Moé as a background vocal artist.)
DuckTales - Jeff Pescetto
Chip 'n Dale- Rescue Rangers - Jeff Pescetto (The Jets sang for the music video.)
TaleSpin - Jim Gilstrap
Darkwing Duck - Jeff Pescetto
Goof Troop- Phil Perry
Bonkers – Kevin Quinn
Aladdin: The Series - (Bambi Moé's notes: I recorded this in Australia and the Disney sites wrongly credits someone named Brian Hannan. We wanted Bruce Adler but he was unavailable. I’ll have to see if I can find the singers name…I think it was Paul... last name starts with a Ka)
Gargoyles - Keith David (spoken)
The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show -Hellecasters (Written by band member John Jorgenson.)
The Lion King's Timon & Pumbaa - Ernie Sabella and Nathan Lane
Quack Pack – Eddie Money
The Mighty Ducks – Mickey Thomas from Jefferson Starship

Disney Afternoon-era Theme Song Singers:
The Wuzzles - Stephen Geyer (Also written by Stephen Geyer.)
The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh -
The Little Mermaid - Instrumental
Raw Toonage – Randy Petersen and Kevin Quinn (Bambi Moé's notes: this was a Randy Petersen and Kevin Quinn composition and production. The “creative” powers at Disney wanted it to remind you of “Oh Yeah” by Yello.)
Marsupilami -

[D82]

^Thanks for all that info! And speaking of the Disney Afternoon songs, here's a video where Lin-Manuel Miranda talks about them. It shows he's really a fan of the Disney shows:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PcqufqiqVA[/youtube]