Angelo Badalamenti, the composer best known for creating otherworldly scores for many David Lynch productions, from 鈥淏lue Velvet鈥 and 鈥淭win Peaks鈥 to 鈥淢ulholland Drive,鈥 has died. He was 85.
He died of natural causes on Sunday, his family said in a statement.
Born in Brooklyn in March 1937 to a fish market owner father with a musical background (a percussionist in Sicily), Badalamenti grew up listening to Italian opera with his family, started piano lessons at age 8 and went on to earn a bachelor鈥檚 and master鈥檚 degree from the Manhattan School of Music. During the summers he would play piano at resorts in the Catskills for the Borscht Belt acts.
After college he taught middle school. He composed a Christmas carol for his students that ended up on PBS and essentially launched his career in entertainment, where he wrote songs for Nina Simone (鈥淎nother Spring鈥) and Nancy Wilson (鈥淔ace It Girl, It鈥檚 Over鈥). He also wrote songs for films like 鈥淕ordon鈥檚 War鈥 and 鈥淟aw and Disorder鈥 but his big break came in 1986 when, through a series of industry connections starting with unit manager Peter Runfolo, he was asked to help Isabella Rossellini sing 鈥淏lue Velvet鈥 for Lynch鈥檚 iconic film.
“They were shooting down in North Carolina, and so they flew me down to meet with Isabella and to see what I could do. When I got there, we went into a little room with just Isabella and me and a piano. I worked with her for two or three hours straight until we got a good take on a small recorder,” he said in an interview with . “David was shooting the last scene. We brought him the cassette tape. He put on his earphones and right away said, “That’s the ticket! This is peachy keen!” I had to ask the line producer what peachy keen meant.”
He also ended up writing the song 鈥淢ysteries of Love鈥 and found Julee Cruise, who died earlier this year, to sing it, starting a long collaboration between the trio that would extend to Lynch鈥檚 seminal series 鈥淭win Peaks.鈥
鈥淒avid felt that the music of 鈥楾win Peaks鈥 would have to cover a lot of ground, a wide range of moods: sadness, passion, ecstasy, love, tenderness, and violence. He wanted the music to be dark and abstract,鈥 he said. 鈥淗e asked me for music that would tear the hearts out of people.鈥
Badalamenti worked with other directors too, including Jane Campion (鈥淗oly Smoke!), Danny Boyle (鈥淭he Beach鈥) Paul Schrader (鈥淭he Comfort of Strangers鈥) and Walter Salles (鈥淒ark Water鈥). He also wrote 鈥淭he Flaming Arrow鈥 Torch Theme for the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics and the theme for 鈥淚nside the Actors Studio.鈥 But it鈥檚 his work with Lynch that hovers above them all, which would include 鈥淭he Straight Story,鈥 鈥淭win Peaks: Fire Walk With Me," 鈥淟ost Highway鈥 and 鈥淢ulholland Drive.鈥
鈥淗e鈥檚 got this musical soul, and melodies are always floating around inside,鈥 Lynch told People Magazine in 1990. 鈥淚 feel the mood of a scene in the music, and one thing helps the other, and they both just start climbing.鈥
Badalamenti also got to exercise his acting chops in a memorable scene in 鈥淢ulholland Drive鈥 where he plays a gangster who is very particular about his espresso.
When it came to how he approached his scores, he said he was always at the service of the director's vision.
"Sometimes you want the music to go along with what鈥檚 happening on screen. Other times I love the idea of the music going against what鈥檚 happening 鈥 that鈥檚 often a cooler way to do things," he told NME in 2011.
鈥淚 always have one major question for a director when I compose a soundtrack: what do you want your audience to feel? Do you want to scare the s鈥攖 out of them? Squirm in their seat? Feel beautiful? And how they answer that question gives me cues to work on. I translate their words into music.鈥
