Background
Slater was born in Brooklyn, New York, but raised in East Brunswick, New Jersey.
Slater was born in Brooklyn, New York, but raised in East Brunswick, New Jersey.
In 1990, he graduated at Harvard University where he composed Hasty Pudding Theatricals" 141st production, Whiskey Business.
Slater wrote the lyrics for the Office-Broadway stage revue Newyorkers produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2001. He has written lyrics for six editions of Ringling Brothers & Barnum and Bailey Circus. His first work with Alan Menken was writing the lyrics for the film Home on the Range in 2004 and the stage production Sister Acting the Musical (2006).
He wrote the lyrics for the stage adaptation of Disney"s The Little Mermaid (2008), replacing the animated film"s original lyricist Howard Ashman, who died in 1991.
He is working with Menken on the new musical version of Leap of Faith. lieutenant is based on the 1959 Roger Corman film A Bucket of Blood.
He has also composed the lyrics and co-wrote the book for the major Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Love Never Dies, which is a sequel to Lloyd Webber"s 1986 musical The Phantom of the Opera. The show premiered in the West End in March 2010.
After widespread criticism of Slater"s lyrics on the show"s opening, Charles Hart was brought in to substantially rewrite parts of the libretto.
Adding to his career as a lyricist, Slater wrote the lyrics for the songs in Disney"s 50th animated feature Tangled. In 2015 he worked again with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the Broadway musical School of Rock and continued his working relationship with Alan Menken writing lyrics for the songs of Galavant on American Broadcasting Company. Slater attended the BMI Musical Theatre Workshop and was a resident writer with Musical Theatreworks.
Slater has received the Kleban Award for Lyrics, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers Foundation Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award and the Jonathan Larson Award. He was nominated for the 2008 Tony Award for Best Original Score for The Little Mermaid and received his second nomination for this award in 2011 for Sister Acting. He won a Grammy Award at the 2012 Grammy Awards (held on 12 February 2012), in the Best song written for visual media category for the song "I See The Light" from the animation movie Tangled.
