Representative Songs: "Twin Peaks," "Theme from Twin Peaks: Fire W," "Laura Palmer's Theme (Instrum"
Biography
Best known for his hauntingly atmospheric work with filmmaker David Lynch, composer Angelo Badalamenti was born in Brooklyn, NY, 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, and The Straight Story. 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. Badalamenti subsequently worked on the scores for such films as Dark Water, The Wicker Man and Edge of Love. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Career Highlights: The Straight Story, Twin Peaks, The City of Lost Children
First Major Screen Credit: Gordon's War (1973)
Biography
Though his jazzy, sometimes nightmarish compositions have earned film composer Angelo Badalamenti a special place in the David Lynch canon, the tireless musician has also found success with such world-renowned filmmakers as Jane Campion (Holy Smoke, 1999) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (The City of Lost Children, 1995). A native of Brooklyn, NY, who spent his childhood enjoying the lavish auditory pleasures of opera and classical music, later studies at the Eastman and Manhattan Schools of Music found the lifelong music lover coming into his own as a composer.
Badalamenti made his cinematic debut with his score to Ossie Davis' 1973 adventure Gordon's War, and though he would quickly follow with music for the 1974 comedy drama Law and Disorder, it would be over a decade until his first collaboration with Lynch provided his breakout composition. Badalamenti's slinky, menacing contribution to Lynch's 1986 mystery Blue Velvet offered the perfect musical backdrop for a film in which little is what it seems and deadly secrets lurk closely beneath the idyllic surface of Smalltown, U.S.A. Though Badalamenti was initially brought on for the sole reason of coaching actress Isabella Rossellini for her singing scene, the fact that Lynch was unable to secure the rights to use "Song of the Siren" in the climactic scene left the gates open for the eager composer to supply his own, equally compelling piece. Subsequent contributions to A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987) and Christmas Vacation (1989) found Badalamenti slightly expanding his versatility, though his creepy contributions to the 1989 suburban cannibal comedy Parents would serve as a telling precursor to his most famous work to date.
Approached by Lynch to score the pilot to his new television series Twin Peaks, Badalamenti enthusiastically agreed, and the unforgettable "Twin Peaks Theme" would forever engrain itself into the hearts of television lovers worldwide. Of course, Badalamenti would also make many other indispensable musical contributions to the series, and around this time the composer also teamed with singer Julee Cruise to assist in the recording of her album Floating into the Night. The same year Twin Peaks debuted, Badalamenti explored the distinctive New Orleans sound in Lynch's Wizard of Oz-themed road movie Wild at Heart. His contributions to the feature Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me (1992) found Badalamenti successfully expanding on his signature soundscape with such jazzy nightmares as "A Real Indication" (for which he also provided vocals). Again collaborating with Lynch for the short-lived television series On the Air (1992) and Hotel Room (1993), Badalamenti provided the opening theme to Bravo's Inside the Actor's Studio and scored the quirky The City of Lost Children before returning to work with Lynch on Lost Highway. Though this time he would appear among the likes of Marilyn Manson and Rammstein, his familiar score was the glue that held the rest of the music together and his screeching jazz nightmare "Red Bats With Teeth" provided the manic intensity which drove the film. His subsequent contribution to Lynch's sentimental 1999 effort The Straight Story found his usually ominous musical scheme considerably lightened and equally as effective as his darker work.
The late '90s found numerous other directors discovering the effectiveness of a Badalamenti score, and around the turn of the millennium, he would score everything from the made-for-television mafia drama The Last Don (1997) to Danny Boyle's eagerly anticipated box-office failure The Beach (2000). Though he would once again re-team with Lynch for the critically acclaimed Mulholland Drive (2001), his scores to the following year's Secretary and Auto Focus proved equally as effective. In 2002, Badalamenti teamed with Lynch protégé Eli Roth to provide the musical backdrop to Roth's much-praised indie horror effort Cabin Fever. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Badalamenti was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Italian family; his mother was from Sicily and his father was a fish market owner.[1] Badalamenti spent much of his childhood listening to opera and classical music. He studied at the Eastman and Manhattan Schools of Music where he earned a master's degree in music.
Career
Badalamenti scored films such as Gordon's War, and Law and Disorder, but his big break came when he was brought in to be Isabella Rossellini's singing coach for the song "Blue Velvet" in David Lynch's classic film Blue Velvet. Rossellini was supposed to sing "Song to the Siren," a song by Tim Buckley, but Lynch was unable to secure the rights to use it. Badalamenti and Lynch collaborated to write "Mysteries of Love", using lyrics Lynch wrote and Badalamenti's music. Lynch asked Badalamenti to appear in the film as the piano player in the club where Rossellini's character performs. This film would be the first of many projects they would work on together.
In 1966, Badalamenti co-wrote a song ("Visa to the Stars") on Perrey and Kingsley's album The In Sound from Way Out!. He also arranged and produced Perrey's two solo albums for Vanguard Records, although he was known at the time as "Andy Badale." In 1987, he lent his services to British synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, arranging the orchestration on the dreamy and melancholic track "It Couldn't Happen Here". The recording foreshadows "Laura Palmer's Theme" from Twin Peaks in 1990, when he also arranged the strings on two tracks on the Pet Shop Boys' acclaimed Behaviour album.
In 1993, Badalamenti collaborated with thrash metal band Anthrax on the Twin Peaks-inspired track "Black Lodge" from the Sound of White Noise album. In 1995, he composed, orchestrated and produced Marianne Faithfull's album, titled A Secret Life. In 1996, Badalamenti teamed up with Tim Booth of the British rock band James. As Booth and the Bad Angel, they released an eponymous album on the Mercury label. In 2000, he worked with Orbital on the "Beached" single for the movie The Beach. In 2004, he composed the Evilenko soundtrack working with Dolores O'Riordan, who sang the main theme and with whom he is still collaborating. A new song by the two, "The Butterfly", is likely to be included in a yet to be announced movie.
Quotes
"My (musical) world is a little bit dark... a little bit off-center. I think of it as tragically beautiful. That is how I would describe what I love best: tragically beautiful."
