Early life
Badalamenti was born in Brooklyn, New York to an Italian
family; his father 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. He
received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Eastman School of Music and then
earned Master of Arts degrees in composition, French horn, and piano from the
Manhattan School of Music in 1960.
Film scoring
Badalamenti 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 1986 film Blue Velvet. Inspired by This Mortal Coil's recent cover of
the Tim Buckley song Song to the Siren, Lynch had wanted Rossellini to sing her
own version, but was unable to secure the rights. In its place, 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 was
the first of many projects they worked on together.
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. From the soundtrack of the television
series, he was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance
for the "Twin Peaks Theme".
Other Lynch projects he worked on include the movies Wild at
Heart, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive (where he
has a small role as a gangster with a finicky taste for espresso), and The
Straight Story 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, The
Wicker Man, Dark Water and Secretary. He has also worked on the soundtrack for
the video game Fahrenheit (known as Indigo Prophecy in North America). He was
composer for director Paul Schrader on such films as Auto Focus, The Comfort of
Strangers and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist. In 1998, Badalamenti recorded
"A Foggy Day (in London Town)" with artist David Bowie for the Red
Hot Organization’s compilation album Red Hot + Rhapsody a tribute to George
Gershwin which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS
awareness and fighting the disease. In 2005, he composed the themes for the
movie Napola (Before the Fall), which were then adapted for the score by
Normand Corbeil. In 2008, he directed the soundtrack of The Edge Of Love, with
Siouxsie, Patrick Wolf and Beth Rowley on vocals.
Badalamenti received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the
World Soundtrack Awards in 2008. On July 23, 2011, the American Society of
Composers, Authors and Publishers presented Badalamenti with the Henry Mancini
Award for his accomplishments in film and television music.
Collaborations
In 1966, Badalamenti co-wrote a song ("Visa to the
Stars") on Perrey and Kingsley's album The In Sound from Way Out!. In
1967, using the name "Andy Badale", he co-wrote a song
("Pioneers Of The Stars") for Perrey and Kingsley's next album,
Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Electronic Pop Music From Way Out. He also arranged and
produced Perrey's two solo albums for Vanguard Records using the "Andy
Badale" moniker. In 1987, he lent his services to British synth-pop duo
Pet Shop Boys, arranging the orchestration on "It Couldn't Happen
Here". Badalamenti also arranged the strings on two tracks on the Pet Shop
Boys' Behaviour album in 1990.
In 1993, Badalamenti collaborated with thrash metal band
Anthrax on the Twin Peaks-inspired 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 continued collaborating.
Other projects
Badalamenti conducted a performance during the opening
ceremony of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.
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