John Kavanaugh

John William Kavanaugh is an American composer, lyricist and musical director who is currently serving as one of several songwriters on Sofia the First: Royal Magic for Disney Television Animation. He is the recipient of 9 Emmy nominations and was awarded the 2014 Daytime Emmy Award for Sofia The First Main Title theme song with co-lyricist Craig Gerber. While working on Sofia The First, Kavanaugh was tapped to write songs for Disney’s first Latina princess, the award-winning Elena of Avalor. Kavanaugh penned the songs and served as music director on the series Alice’s Wonderland Bakery which premiered in February of 2022. In 2023, he earned an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Original Song for “The Hat Makes The Hatter,” co-written with lyricists Chelsea Beyl and Marisa Evans-Sanden, and the trio repeated their success in December 2024 with another nomination for “Let Your Wish Carry You Away” from season two. His songs can also be heard in several hit movies, including Disney’s Descendants 3 (My Once Upon a Time), Winnie The Pooh film Springtime with Roo and Nickelodeon’s Globehunters. He co-wrote the scores to Curious George Live for NBC Universal, Dreams are Universal for Univer