ANGELO BADALAMENTI
(22 March 1937 - 11 December 2022)
The American composer-arranger Angelo Badalamenti, who has died of natural causes aged 85, was noted for working with David Lynch, beginning with Blue Velvet (1986). A cross between film noir and horror, starring Kyle MacLachlan, Isabella Rossellini, Dennis Hopper and Laura Dern, the movie was initially greeted with a mixed reception but eventually became a cult, while Badalamenti’s haunting music found its place on Entertainment Weekly’s list of 100 Greatest Film Soundtracks.
A similar thing happened with Twin Peaks, the TV mystery drama series created by Lynch and Mark Frost in 1990. Ostensibly about an FBI agent (MacLachlan again) investigating a murder, it turned out to be rather more with echoes of supernatural horror. It ran initially for two seasons, spawned a feature, numerous books and had a third season from 2017. Badalamenti’s original and instantly recognisable ‘Love Theme’ comprising atmospheric jazz motifs was played on a Fender Rhodes electric piano, bass guitar and percussion, thus reflecting the weirdness of the plot. It won Badalamenti a Grammy and three nominations from the Primetime Emmys.
Angelo Daniel Badalamenti was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Sicilian family, owners of a fish market. He studied piano and after high school attended the Eastman and Manhattan Schools of Music. From the age of 27 he wrote songs under the penname of Andy Badale for Shirley Bassey, Nina Simone, Pet Shop Boys, Dusty Springfield, Paul McCartney, Julee Cruise, Marianne Faithfull, Karl Denver, Della Reese, Nancy Wilson and Orbital.
His first score was for Ossie Davis’s Gordon’s War in 1973. Then came Ivan Passer’s Law and Disorder and, after Blue Velvet, he composed for A Nightmare on Elm Street 3, Norman Mailer’s Tough Guys Don’t Dance, Weeds with Nick Nolte, Cousins for Joel Schumacher, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation and for Paul Schrader The Comfort of Strangers (from Harold Pinter’s screenplay), Auto Focus and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. After Twin Peaks, Badalamenti continued to work with David Lynch on Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, The Straight Story, Mulholland Drive, Rabbits and the third series of Twin Peaks.
He was quite prolific and wide-ranging in his musical output, providing other scores for directors Jane Campion, Danny Boyle, Eli Roth, Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Neil LaBute. A total original when either composing or arranging, Badalamenti always provided perfect music to fit any project. The particular originality of his individualistic scores may even outlive the films’ own reputations.
Angelo Badalamenti was married to Lonny Irgens and they have two children, Danielle and André. Apart from winning a Grammy he was also nominated for over thirty other international awards, while the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers presented him with the Henry Mancini Award.
MICHAEL DARVELL