BIOGRAPHY Composer Angelo Badalamenti is highly regarded for his award winning scoring work in film and television. Best known for his many collaborations with director David Lynch, he is also a popular and respected recording artist, having worked with the likes of David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Pet Shop Boys, Anthrax, Michael Jackson, Julee Cruise, Marianne Faithfull and Dolores O'Riordan, to name a few. Born in Brooklyn to parents of Italian descent, Badalamenti studied at the famous Eastman School of Music in Rochester and at Manhattan School of Music, where he received Masters degrees in composition, French horn and piano. Following his classical training, he worked for five years as a music teacher at the Dyker Heights Junior High School in Brooklyn, New York, while spending those early summers as a Borscht Belt pianist, and as an arranger-songwriter for many popular performers including Shirley Bassey, Mel Tillis, Nancy Wilson, Patti Austin, Melba Moore, Roberta Flack and Nina Simone. Badalamenti began his work in film music (under the name Andy Badale) in 1973 with his score for Gordon's War, but his big break came in 1986 when he was hired by David Lynch as Isabella Rossellini's vocal coach for the movie Blue Velvet. He ended up scoring the film, and even appears in a cameo role as piano player "Andy Badale" in the jazz bar "The Slow Club." His close working relationship with Lynch (which has been documented as "a match made in heaven") served as a springboard for his career, and his services have been called upon for numerous major motion pictures and television series in addition to scoring all of Lynch's film and television work since. He co-wrote and co-produced with Lynch the Brooklyn Academy of Music's theatrical production of Industrial Symphony No. 1, which received the American Music Video Entertainment Award. The following year he won BPI's Best Album Award and a Grammy Award for his theme to Lynch's groundbreaking TV series "Twin Peaks." His Soundtrack from Twin Peaks album has achieved gold status in 15 countries. Badalamenti is the the recipient of a Grammy Award for his Twin Peaks Theme, an Independent Spirit Award and a Saturn Award for Fire Walk With Me, a BAFTA Award and a Film Critics Online Society Award for his score for The Comfort of Strangers. He has received Golden Globe nominations for his scores for Mulholland Drive and The Straight Story, three Emmy Award nominations for the Twin Peaks television series, a Grammy Award nomination for the Twin Peaks soundtrack, a BAFTA award nomination, and an AFI award nomination for Mulholland Drive, two Cesar Award nominations- for A Very Long Engagement and The City of Lost Children, and an American Video Conference award for Best Original Score for his Industrial Symphony #1. Badalamenti was chosen the represent America as the composer and conducter of The Flaming Arrow- the "torch theme" for the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain. Badalamenti's music is most commonly described as "haunting." His forte lies with dark, dreamy melodies that evoke emotions of passion and paranoia.