Angelo Daniel Badalamenti (March 22, 1937 – December 11, 2022)
Angelo Badalamenti was an American composer, best known for his work scoring films for director David Lynch, notably Blue Velvet, the Twin Peaks saga (1990–1992, 2017), The Straight Story, and Mulholland Drive.
It was 1989 and David Lynch was sitting next to the composer Angelo Badalamenti at the keyboard of a Fender Rhodes in the latter’s Manhattan office.
Lynch and screenwriter Mark Frost were about to start making Twin Peaks, a through-the-looking-glass soap opera in which a murder exposes the secret life of a small town in the Pacific north-west of the United States, and they needed a soundtrack.
In Lynch’s head, music, imagery and narrative were inextricably intertwined, so he told Badalamenti to imagine he was alone in woods at night.
The wind was blowing, an owl was hooting. Badalamenti picked out an ominous, low motif.
Slower, said Lynch. “Just slow things down and it becomes more beautiful.”
Now, he said, picture a distressed teenage girl emerging from the darkness, getting closer.
Badalamenti steadily climbed the keyboard, resolving the melody on an ecstatic high before falling back into the night.
It took just 20 minutes and Badalamenti suggested developing it further, but Lynch replied, “Don’t change a single note. I see Twin Peaks.”
They had just written “Laura Palmer’s Theme”.
Badalamenti received the 1990 Grammy Award for “Best Pop Instrumental Performance” for his “Twin Peaks Theme”.
He also received a “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the World Soundtrack Awards’s Academy in 2008, and the “Henry Mancini Award” from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in 2011.
In 1967, Badalamenti co-wrote the song “I Hold No Grudge” with Nina Simone, for her album High Priestess of Soul.
He also worked for Paul McCartney at Abbey Road in Late 1992 for an unreleased song “Is it raining in London” co-written by McCartney with Hamish Stuart.
In 1998, Badalamenti recorded “A Foggy Day (in London Town)” with artist David Bowie for the Red Hot Organization’s compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody a tribute to George Gershwin which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.
In 1995, he composed, orchestrated and produced Marianne Faithfull‘s album, titled A Secret Life.
Angelo Badalamenti has joined Julee Cruise (December 1, 1956 – June 9, 2022) for one last jam in the Red Room but…
“Today, no music.”
Requiescat in pace, both of you.