Angelo Badalamenti, Composer For Blue Velvet And Twin Peaks, Has Died

Angelo Badalamenti, the Grammy-winning composer who brought viewers the scores to such beloved projects as "Twin Peaks," "Mulholland Drive," and "Blue Velvet," has died, his niece has confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter. The musician, who died of natural causes in his family home in New Jersey on Sunday, was 85 years old.

Badalamenti had a storied career: he made his film composing debut in 1973, on the film "Gordon's War," and went on to contribute music to over 90 different films and television shows. But his talent was recognized most often by frequent collaborator David Lynch, who, according to the late composer's official website, first hired him in 1986 to work as a vocal coach for "Blue Velvet" songstress Isabella Rossellini. The pair struck up a productive partnership that has carried them through several decades; after crafting the distinctive "Twin Peaks" theme song, Badalamenti returned to score the series' masterful sequel season in 2017.

The dreamlike sound that Badalamenti created for the series lived on far after its initial two-season run ended. Esquire once noted that the "Twin Peaks" theme has influenced everyone from Lana Del Rey to Kanye West to Beach House. In a 2017 article by The Guardian, Badalamenti describes the process of creating the song that would go on to be known as "Laura Palmer's Theme," saying that Lynch sat beside him at his keyboard and described a lonely wilderness scene set at night. As Badalamenti began to compose in real time, Lynch told him to picture a teenage girl running from the darkness, coming closer. After 20 minutes of composing, the musician quotes the filmmaker as saying, "Don't change a single note. I see Twin Peaks."

Badalamenti's career went beyond his collaborations with Lynch: the Brooklyn-born, classically trained pianist, teacher, and composer crafted memorable scores for films like "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation," "A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors," and "Secretary." He won a Grammy for Best Pop Instrumental Performance (for the "Twin Peaks" theme), earned the Henry Mancini Lifetime Achievement award, and even wrote the theme for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

But despite his other successes, Badalamenti clearly had a special relationship with Lynch, who even put the composer in two of his films in small roles. In the darkly seductive and harrowing Lynch standout "Blue Velvet," he played piano alongside Rossellini. In another of Lynch's best works, "Mulholland Drive," he appeared as the espresso-drinking Italian man Luigi Castigliane. In the '90s, Lynch and Badalamenti even formed a jazz duo called Thought Gang, which finally released its lost album in 2018. The pair also often worked closely with B-52s singer Julee Cruise, who passed away earlier this year.

This morning, before Badalamenti's passing was announced, Lynch chose not to recommend a song in his daily Los Angeles weather report for the first time in memory. "Today, no music," the filmmaker simply said instead. It's a fitting moment of silence for a musician whose loss will leave a tremendous gap in the world of cinematic soundtracks and beyond. Badalamenti will be greatly missed.