Mormon music has come a long way over the years. First there were composers like Leigh Harline, author of "When You Wish Upon a Star," and now the heralded group The Piano Guys, a Mormon outfit, will release their fourth studio album entitled Wonders on Sony Music Masterworks imprint Portrait.
If you don't know The Piano Guys, there is a large stemming history that has garnered the band some serious interest. Four talented dads from Utah have hit the Billboard charts, sold out tour dates around the world, gained some massive social media following and acquired a YouTube viewership of 500 million views.
The album, Wonders, which drops on October 7, is an achievement for the Mormon community. But this brings to light the question: Where have the other Mormon musical contributors been over the years?
Mormon music has, however, taken some heat over the last century. An early resentment to polygamy hindered the Mormon musical community from achieving popularity, among other details. But this hasn't hindered some composers from gaining some major attention.
Composers like Leigh Harline (1909-1969) have made major contributions to the popular songbook. Disney's Snow White and Pinocchio have been scored by Harline, and he even coined popular tune "When You Wish Upon a Star."
Other classical Mormon composers include Evan Stephens, the early director of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir; B. Cecil Gates, grandson of Brigham Young; Arthur Shepherd, assistant director to the Cleveland Symphony and author to many concertos and sonatas for Overture Joyeuse.
With what New Music Box described as the coming "Mormon Moment" during the 2012 presidential election, the Mormon community had brought made aware to the public that they have a bigger following than most had thought.
For modern Mormon musical contributors, the light doesn't shy away from any particular belief, and thus the amount of Latter-day Saints believers is higher than any one person would think.
And among the Mormon elite, The Piano Guys have a pretty great mash-up and homage to Batman. Check it out below.
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