Lyricist Reveals Broadway Star Lea Salonga Sang Original Demo For ‘The Lion King’
LEA SALONGA – The lyricist from ‘The Lion King’ revealed Lea Salonga sang the original demo of ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight.’
Grammy-nominated Filipino singer-actress Lea Salonga is best known for her Tony Award-winning role in ‘Miss Saigon.’ She is the first Asian woman to win the prestigious award.
Lots of people recognized the 49-year-old Broadway star as the singing voice of Fa Mulan for “Mulan” and Princess Jasmine from “Aladdin.” The Walt Disney Company named her ‘Disney Legend’ in 2011.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, a lyricist from the animated movie “The Lion King,” Tim Rice, revealed that Lea Salonga was once tapped to record a demo of the song “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” for the movie.
Rice shared the former chairman of Walt Disney Studios, Jeffrey Katzenberg was not impressed with Elton John’s tape of “Be Prepared” and “Can You Feel the Love Tonight.” He said the song didn’t have the Broadway-style scoring like the previous songs of Disney.
“We were not writing in the tradition of Alan (Menken) and Howard (Ashman),” Rice explained.
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According to the report, Tim Rice asked Lea Salonga to record a demo of “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” while he performed “Be Prepared” himself.
The Filipina singer took to her Facebook Page in November 2017 to share her experience the day she was approached by Rice to record demos for “The Lion King.”
“In the midst of recording ‘A Whole New World,’ Tim Rice enlisted Brad and me to record a couple of demos for a brand-new musical, The Lion King. We sang on ‘Can You Feel the Love Tonight’ and ‘Just Can’t Wait to be King.’”
“They were not at all worthy for release, and we were just glad to lend a helping hand. Later on, I got to rehearse the same with Matthew Broderick. The movie became a monumental success, and most certainly one of my favorites,” she added.
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