Biography
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Born
22 March 1937
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Born In
Brooklyn, New York, New York, United States
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Died
11 December 2022 (aged 85)
Best known for his hauntingly atmospheric work with filmmaker David Lynch, composer Angelo Badalamenti was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1938; a classically-trained performer, he spent the early years of his career playing the Catskills resort area, later writing and arranging for singers including Shirley Bassey and country star Mel Tillis. Under the name Andy Badale, he entered the film industry in 1973, debuting with the score to the action film Gordon’s War. Despite subsequent work on such features as 1974’s Law and Disorder and 1976’s Across the Great Divide, Badalamenti remained largely unknown before hooking up with Lynch on the soundtrack of the director’s 1986 masterpiece Blue Velvet; they subsequently worked together on the features Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, The Straight Story, and Mulholland Drive. Perhaps the most famous fruit of their collaboration was the cult hit television series Twin Peaks, for which Badalamenti created one of the most distinctive and evocative theme songs in TV history. The duo also wrote and produced a pair of LPs for ethereal chanteuse Julee Cruise, 1989’s Floating Into the Night and 1993’s The Voice of Love, and staged an avant-garde musical theater piece titled Industrial Symphony No. 1. In 1996, Badalamenti shifted gears, teaming with James vocalist Tim Booth for the LP Booth and the Bad Angel.
Recently, Badalamenti tried composing for a new media : video games. He wrote part of David Cage’s Fahrenheit soundtrack, creating a dark deep ambience and perfectly succeeding in this new challenge.
David Lynch is famous for writing and directing what can only be called “David Lynch movies,” features whose perplexing plots are often a surreal mix of wonder and repugnance. After his first film, Eraserhead (1976), became a cult hit on the midnight movie circuit, Lynch was tapped by Mel Brooks to direct The Elephant Man (1980, the story of John Merrick). The film was a critical and box-office success and he was nominated for an Oscar. His next film was 1984’s unsuccessful version of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel, Dune, but he bounced back with Blue Velvet (1986, starring Dennis Hopper) and firmly established himself as a unique filmmaker who could appeal to more than arthouse crowds. He has ventured into television, most famously for a Calvin Klein commercial and for the series Twin Peaks (1990). His other feature films include Wild at Heart (1990, starring Nicolas Cage), Lost Highway (1997) and The Straight Story (1999, starring Sissy Spacek). His 2001 film Mulholland Drive earned him another Oscar nomination for Best Director. Lynch is also a photographer, musician and painter… His daughter, Jennifer Lynch, wrote and directed the 1992 feature film Boxing Helena.
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