Angelo Badalamenti

Angelo Daniel Badalamenti (March 22, 1937 – December 11, 2022) was an American composer and arranger best known for his film music, notably the scores for his collaborations with director David Lynch, Blue Velvet (1986), Twin Peaks (1990–1991; 2017), Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992), The Straight Story (1999), and Mulholland Drive (2001). Badalamenti also composed scores for such films as National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989), The City of Lost Children (1995), Holy Smoke! (1999), and A Very Long Engagement (2004), and recorded songs with artists including Julee Cruise (in collaboration with Lynch), Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey, Pet Shop Boys, Dusty Springfield, Marianne Faithfull, David Bowie, Tim Booth, Siouxsie Sioux and Dolores O'Riordan. In 1990, Badalamenti won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for his "Twin Peaks Theme" at the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards. He 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. Early life Angelo Daniel Badalamenti was born on March 22, 1937, in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, the second of four children born to Leonora (née Ferrari) and John Badalamenti. His father, who was of Italian descent from the town of Cinisi, was a fish market owner. He began taking piano lessons at age eight. By the time Badalamenti was a teenager, his aptitude at the piano earned him a summer job accompanying singers at resorts in the Catskill Mountains. His elder brother was a jazz trumpet player who used to improvise with other musicians. He also went to Latin American dance clubs. Badalamenti attended Lafayette High School, where he wrote the processional march for his high school graduation.