Angelo Badalamenti - Rotten Tomatoes Celebrity Profile

Biography

This page uses content from the Angelo Badalamenti biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.

Angelo Badalamenti (born March 22, 1937) is a music composer, best known for his movie soundtrack work for movie director David Lynch.

Background

He was born in Brooklyn, New York to an American mother and an Italian father and 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. He 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 film Blue Velvet. Rossellini was supposed to sing "Song to the Siren", 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 together on.

After scoring a variety of mainstream films, including A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, he scored Lynch's cult television show, Twin Peaks, which featured the vocals of Julee Cruise. Many of the songs from the series were released on Cruise's album Floating into the Night. Other Lynch projects he worked on include the movies Wild at Heart, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me, Lost Highway, and Mulholland Dr. (where he has a small role as a gangster with a finicky taste for espresso), as well as the television shows On the Air and Hotel Room. Other projects he has worked in include the television film Witch Hunt, and the films Naked in New York, The City of Lost Children, A Very Long Engagement, Dark Water and Secretary. He has also worked on the soundtrack for the video game Fahrenheit. His work on Fahrenheit has also been critically acclaimed. With the game breaking new ground, and being described as an 'interactive paranormal thriller'. Lately, has been composer for director Paul Schrader on such films including Auto Focus and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist.

In 2005, he has composed the background music for Napola.

Collaborations

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 various tracks on the Pet Shop Boys' acclaimed Behaviour album.

In 1993, Badalamenti collaborated with thrash metal band Anthrax on the 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.

In 2004, he was lead composer for the Atari/ Quantic Dream game Indigo Prophecy.

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."

External links

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