Angelo Badalamenti, Famous Score Composer for ‘Twin Peaks,’ Dies at 85

Famous musician and composer Angelo Badalamenti has died. He was 85 years old.

Best known for his work as a film scorer alongside director David Lynch, Badalamenti composed music for films like Blue Velvet and Mulholland Drive, and television shows such as Twin Peaks.

He received the 1990 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance for his Twin Peaks theme. He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Soundtrack Awards.

Born into an Italian-American family in Brooklyn, New York in 1937, Badalamenti began taking piano lessons at eight years old. He earned a bachelor’s degree in 1958 at the Manhattan School of Music. He later earned a master’s degree in 1959.

As an adult, Badalamenti scored films like A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.

He worked on Lynch movies, including Wild at Heart, Lost Highway, and The Straight Story, and was a composer for director Paul Schrader on movies like Auto Focus, The Comfort of Strangers, and Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist.

The 2017 revival of the Twin Peaks television show marked the continued collaboration between Badalamenti and Lynch. Its score includes new songs by Badalamenti, as well as music from the series’ original score

Badalamenti also composed the opening theme for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain.

His “Twin Peaks Theme” is seminal in his scoring work, both strange and light, a signature for the television series created by Lynch. Check out that music below.

Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images