Vangelis, composer and producer. Born: 29 March 1943 in Agria, Greece. Died: 17 May 2022 in Paris, France, aged 79Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou – or Vangelis as he is known to the film soundtrack lovers of the world – was an untutored musical seeker whose 50-year career encompassed cosmic concept albums, commissions from international space agencies and the occasional pop classic.
But the Greek composer, who has died of heart failure, aged 79, remains best known for his atmospheric electronic film score for Chariots Of Fire, which spawned a thousand slo-mo sporting clips, and the arguably more influential soundtrack to Blade Runner, whose director Ridley Scott has described Vangelis as “the soul of the movie”.
His earliest international success came alongside fellow Greek music icon Demis Roussos as a member of progressive rock band Aphrodite’s Child, while he flirted with the pop charts in collaboration with Yes frontman Jon Anderson, co-writing the expansive I’ll Find My Way Home and State of Independence, which was later taken to greater creative heights by disco diva Donna Summer.
This musically prolific but personally private man pioneered melodic symphonic electronica, using synthesizers as his orchestra, but he roundly rejected the New Age label he was occasionally given as an “opportunity for untalented people to make very boring music”.
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