Proud of Your Boy was an important song to the staff of Aladdin. It was written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menkin, the composing duo who also wrote the music for The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast. The song focused on Aladdin’s relationship with his mother and Ashman said that it was his favorite song in the film.
In the middle of Aladdin’s production, Howard Ashman died of AIDS. It was a difficult time for all involved in Aladdin. It must have been even tougher for Alan when the decision was made to take the mother out of the story. The cut meant taking Proud of Your Boy out of the film which now Alan had become very attached to since the death of his friend.
Clay Aiken became a part of the Disney family by singing Proud of Your Boy for the new DVD. Alan Menkin said that Clay fit the part perfectly and was very pleased that Clay was involved with the DVD. After the recording, Buena Vista Home Entertainment became the title sponsor of Clay’s first tour.
On September 30th, 2004, Clay Aiken attended the release party for the Aladdin (Disney Special Platinum Edition) DVD. Clay was accompanied by his friend, Amber Nix. He walked down the “Blue” carpet and chatted with the press. Inside the theater, Clay performed the song Proud of Your Boy.
The following videos are great. I hope you enjoy them!
That song is so beautiful. I can’t even imagine anyone but Clay singing it.
This song does represent Clay's relationship with his mother! They have been through so much with their life together! I'm sure Faye is proud of her boy with the positive paths, Clay has taken with his life!
Thank you, musicfan for sharing the memories!
Love this song! Always hits home with me….. sure wish they hadn't cut the part of the mother. So many people have never heard this song sung by Clay!
Clay was the perfect person to perform this song. I tried to buy this song on Amazon, but Disney doesn't sell it as a single. You have to buy the whole album. I heard that Disney is coming out with an updated version of Aladdin with one new song. I was hoping it was POYB, but it is not.
that song proud of you boy surely does indeed represent clays relation ship together with his mother and they did go through manythings in therelives together and im also sure that fay is proud of her son clay and with all of the postive amazing paths that clay has taken with his life music fan thank you so much for shareing the memories