- published: 08 Jul 2016
- views: 0
Robert Lopez (born February 23, 1975) is an American songwriter of musicals, best known for co-creating The Book of Mormon and Avenue Q, and for penning the songs featured in the Disney animated feature film, Frozen. He is the youngest of only twelve people who have won an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony Award, and the quickest (10 years) to win all four.
Robert Lopez was born in Manhattan to Frank and Katherine Lopez. He is partly of Filipino descent through his father, Frank; his paternal grandfather was Filipino and his paternal grandmother was Filipino and Scottish-American. His father eventually became director of publications for NYU Langone Medical Center.
Lopez spent much of his childhood in Greenwich Village, except for one year in Massachusetts while his father was working for Clark University. Upon their return to New York City when he was six years old, "it was a fluke" that he started piano lessons at Greenwich House Music School. The apartment they were subletting at the time happened to have a piano; his mother asked if he was interested in taking lessons, and he said yes. At age seven, his parents bought a piano for him, he saw his first Broadway show, and he wrote his first song. At age 11, he wrote his first opening number. At around age 12, he briefly drifted away from the piano and tried playing the saxophone, as well as taking courses in musical composition at other music schools.