ANGELO BADALAMENTI,
1937-2022

Angelo Badalamenti, the Brooklyn-born composer who rose to fame with his haunting, dreamlike scores for David Lynch films and TV shows, died 12/11 of natural causes at his home in New Jersey. He was 85.

Badalamenti scored nearly 50 films with such directors as Paul Schrader and Danny Boyle, but his work for Lynch, which began with 1986's Blue Velvet, earned him his greatest acclaim.

He was initially hired as a vocal coach for Isabella Rossellini on Blue Velvet, but Lynch eventually asked him to compose the score. The two would go on to collaborate on the films Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, The Straight Story and Mulholland Drive and the groundbreaking TV series Twin Peaks, for which Badalamenti won a Grammy for its main theme.

Badalamenti had worked as a composer and musician for more than 25 years before his tenure with Lynch. Nina Simone and Shirley Bassey are among the artists who recorded songs he wrote under the pen name Andy Badale.

Following his success with Lynch, Badalamenti worked with David Bowie, Pet Shop Boys, Marianne Faithfull, Anthrax and others and composed the torch theme for the 1992 Olympic Games.