How does an Irish-American born in Sacramento, California, raised in Southeast Asia, and returning to the U.S., become a leading name in children's animation music? This diverse multi-cultural background makes Denis M. Hannigan a unique talent.

This gifted composer's resume reflects a wide range of musical influences. The son of a state department operative stationed in South East Asia, Hannigan spent his teenage years traveling throughout Asia. While living in Taiwan, he finished high school and attended college, becoming fluent in Chinese. Studying with Asian music masters, he also became proficient in Asian music and woodwind instruments. Hannigan was the only Caucasian member of the musical group, Mother Goose. The band enjoyed national fame performing original rock and jazz music, selling out clubs and concert venues, and appearing on national television.
After Hannigan returned to the U.S. he spent several years in the San Francisco Bay area. Continuing his studies at the College of Marin, Hannigan further expanded his knowledge of international music. Denis added saxophone and other ethnic instruments to his repertoire, as well as early analog synthesizers like the Moog, Prophet Five and Arp while performing in San Francisco with local jazz, Brazilian and Latin bands. After graduation, Hannigan moved to Los Angeles to study at UCLA's Film Scoring Program under the direction of Don B. Ray (Gilligan's Island, Hawaii Five-O, Star Trek), Gerald Fried (Roots) and Jerrold Immel (Dallas).

In Los Angeles, Hannigan met Mark Mothersbaugh, best known as lead singer of the band, Devo. Technologically ahead of his time, Hannigan was one of the first composers to score for television using computers and synthesizers. He helped Mothersbaugh build a sophisticated computer-based music studio designed for film and television composing. Mothersbaugh was building a reputation as a television composer and hired Hannigan to write music for Adventures in Wonderland. Hannigan went on to write original scores under Mothersbaugh for Adventures in Wonderland, Rugrats, and Beakman's World before departing to do the series Beakman's World on his own.
Having worked closely with Rugrats co-creator Paul Germain on that series, Hannigan was a natural choice to compose the music for Disney's Recess, the animated television series created by Germain and Joe Ansolabehare as part of Disney's One Saturday Morning line-up. Says Germain, "Denis' music has contributed enormously to the success of Recess."

Soon afterward, Hannigan met CatDog creator Peter Hannan. "Because the show is so off-the-wall, I wanted CatDog to have a unique musical palette with mostly live instruments and original synthesizer sounds," explains Hannan. "Denis gave CatDog just what it needed, musically."
For Recess: School's Out, Hannigan has created an original score that covers the musical gamut from a kazoo rendition of "Bridge Over the River Kwai" to dramatic sequences played by a 90-piece orchestra. Hannigan also arranged the re-recorded songs, including those sung by stage legend Robert Goulet, who belts out a new interpretation of the Lemon Pipers' hit "Green Tambourine" featured on the movie's psychedelic end title sequence and the Walt Disney Records soundtrack.
Along with TV and film credits, Hannigan has contributed to many commercial campaigns, including Nickelodeon, Nickelodeon International, Girls Inc., Kraft Foods and Michelin Tires. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Society of Composers and Lyricists.