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!
I love this song. It became more important to me when my son passed. I was always proud of my boy and the heartfelt way he sings it sounds like he's singing it to meeee! So sad it wasn't in the movie, but I sure got the 2 disk DVD back when it came out. Thank you musicfan!!
Same here Gay, love this song sung by Clay, it's so heartfelt, I too have the DVD.
I also LOVE this song & LOVED the way Clay sang it!!!! I too have the DVD, that my dear friend got me for Christmas that year!!!! Clay-You can sing the PHONE BOOK & make it sound hot!!!! Will always be "Proud Of My Boy." (Even though I don't know him personally, I Will always be Proud of him!) Rock on Clay!!!!! And thanks as always for sharing, Musicfan123!!!!!!
What an emotional song. Most can relate to in one way or another. No one brings emotion to a song like Clay. Every time I watch , I picture how proud his mother is of him. Also that grand orchestra behind him just wonderful.
This will be a classic forever.
Love this song and how he sang it. WOW. You can hear every single word and go along with the story.
Disney and Clay is such a good combo! I love Disney songs, great lyricists and lovely melodies.
So beautiful. What more can you say?
I love every song Clay sings, his owe a cover, any classic, he just makes them all his own like all of us know…I don't know of another great singer that can do that. I was at the doctor the other day and the nurse doing the vitals was talking about American Idol and said she stopped watching it when Clay lost, she had called in to vote for him and many of the calls were not going through….Lightning struck twice, when he got 2nd on Celebrity A…after American Idol, he was clearly the winner of both shows,,,but we know that, and so do thousand's of others….he will always have his fans. His Mother has to be so proud of him just like we are……
musicfan123, I put comments on here earlier and they are not up here, I don't know why? I have been going on this site every single day 20 or more times a day for updates. I am a 100% loyal Clay Aiken fan, I never said anything bad in any way about Clay, I buy all his cd's , go to any tours he has that I can get to…….why are my comments not showing..?
Margaret….your comments are showing up on my page that I keep to check how everything is looking. Remember, I look at each comment and if I am away from my computer, it might take an hour to get approved.
If you still can't see your comments, let me know…
OK Thank you . I am sorry for the mistake Musicfan123.
I love this song also! I have the DVD and I love to watch that video with Clay and Alan Menkin. He found the perfect singer for his song.
I'm so happy that Clay got to perform the perfect song to sing to his own mother. Now I wish that Disney would add Clay to the movie where Ellen plays Dori the little fish (Finding Nemo 2). I think that a fish with a southern drawl would be perfect.
Any song writer gets Clay to sing one of his songs is very lucky, and it will sound great, much better then if another singer sang it…..
I also have this DVD and love the song – and Clay sings whatever he sings better than anyone else!!
It's just a fact – God gave him a very special gift – and he has always made good use of it. I know I
would be proud of him if he was my son – – Ms. Parker must be very proud of him!