Angelo Badalamenti, composer of Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet, dies aged 85 | Ents & Arts News

Composer Angelo Badalamenti, best known for writing scores for director David Lynch’s big names in television and film such as Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet, has died.

The classically trained Grammy winner died at his home in New Jersey in the United States. He was 85 years old.

Badalamenti created haunting and ethereal musical accompaniments for many of Lynch’s works, including Wild at Heart, Fire Walk With Me, Lost Highway, The Straight Story and Mulholland Drive.

He also appeared on screen as coffee-loving mobster Luigi Castigliane in Mulholland Drive and played piano with Isabella Rossellini in Blue Velvet.

A statement from his family said: “The loving composer, husband, father and grandfather passed away on December 11…peacefully of natural causes, surrounded by his family.”

Badalamenti’s break came when he was named Rossellini’s vocal coach for the song Blue Velvet in the 1986 film of the same name.

After scoring a variety of mainstream films, including A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Badalamenti once again collaborated with Lynch on the cult TV show, Twin Peaks. It quickly became the score he was best known for, and the one that defined the style and mood of the show.

Throughout his long career he has collaborated with an eclectic mix of singers in virtually every genre, including David Bowie, Nina Simone, Dame Shirley Bassey, Patti Austin, Sir Paul McCartney, Liza Minnelli, Roberta Flack the Pet Shop Boys and LL Cool J.

Badalamenti, who was born in New York, won a Grammy in 1990 for best pop instrumental performance for the theme Two Peaks.

He received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2008 World Soundtrack Awards and the prestigious Henry Mancini Award in 2011, presented to him by Lynch.