Mickey's New Voice... Bret Iwan

I woke up this morning to find our beloved Mickey Mouse finally has a new voice. Laughing Place.com and Stitch Kingdom are reporting that Bret Iwan, a former illustrator for Hallmark got the coveted gig. According to the stories out there Iwan has already recorded Mickey's voice for at least three separate projects; A learning toy, Voice prompts for Disney Cruise line's, and "Disney on Ice: Celebrations!" The closest thing to an official announcement has come from Chapman Recording & Mastering In Kansas City who have been working with Disney & Pixar for years. According to Chapman's website; "Local character voice talent Bret Iwan is the new voice of Disney's famous mouse. Bret competed nationally to become the voice of Mickey and will handle a wide variety of talent duties." I suspect that Disney is probably waiting for next weeks D23 Expo to make an official announcement. Mickey has been without a voice since Sound Engineer and Disney Legend Wayne Allwine passed away on May 18th 2009.

I wanted to take a moment to point out some interesting coincidence's between the men who have voiced Mickey Mouse. Before Mickey Mouse was even created Walt Disney got his start in animation in Kansas City, MO. Walt was the First voice of Mickey, a responsibility he took upon him self for almost 20 years. in 1947 He passed the mantle to Jimmy McDonald, Disney's then "Master of Sound." That same year and only a few miles away the man who would take MacDonald's place as the voice of Mickey Mouse, Wayne Allwine, was born. Both MacDonald and Allwine held the job more than 30 years respectively. Now with the hire of Bret Iwan that list of coincidence continues, because Bret hails from the city where Walt Disney got his first start... Kansas City, MO.
Admiral Duke