ISABELLA ROSSELLINI HAD a problem. As part of playing tortured nightclub singer Dorothy in David Lynch’s 1986 film Blue Velvet, she was required to sing Bobby Vinton’s titular song on stage, in what would become an iconic scene. “I am not a singer, and I only have the language of an actor,” Rossellini tells Empire.
Enter Angelo Badalamenti, then a musician known for composing jingles from New Jersey, who in December passed away at his home, aged 85. Also at an early stage in his career, Badalamenti was brought onto the film to provide vocal lessons for the actor. “He was like an angel that appeared,” Rossellini reflects. “He was cheerful, kind, adaptable, and he understood my problem and what I wanted to do. I don’t have a great voice, but we went to the recording studio and figured out how to make it better.”