Born Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou in 1943, he passed away late Tuesday in Greece.
Greek composer Vangelis performs during a concert at the Temple of Zeus in Athens on June 28, 2001 /File Photo
Vangelis, the Greek composer whose exciting electronic theme song for the film “ The Oscar-winning Chariots of Fire, one of the best-known scores of the 1980s, has died at the age of 79, the Athens News Agency reported Thursday.
Citing a statement from his lawyers’ office, ANA said Vangelis died late Tuesday, without giving further details on the cause of death.
Born Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou in 1943, young Vangelis developed an early interest in music and experimented with sounds made by banging pots and pans or pinning nails, glasses and other objects to the strings of his parents’ piano.
Greek electronic music composer Vangelis, surrounded by equipment in a venue , Jan. 28, 1976 (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)
He absorbed the tones of Greek folk songs and Orthodox Christian choral music, but had no formal musical training, which , he later said, helped save his sense of creativity.
After joining local rock groups, Vangelis left for Paris at the age of 25, joining an exodus of young artists following the 1967 coup that installed a military junta in Greece .
Finding his way far from home, he was drawn to the then new field of electronic synthesizers, which allowed him to create the lush melodic colors that became his signature sound.
Despite its success in the European prog rock scene of the early 1970s, it was not comfortable with the expectations of a commercial artist, he largely retreated to the recording studio he created for himself in London.
There he wrote the score for “Chariots of Fire”, the story of the triumph of a group of British athletes in the 1924 Olympics.
His synth rhythm and his melody turned the opening slow-motion sequence of a group of athletes running along the beach into a model for cinema to portray sport from then on.
Vangelis once said that the score, which won him an Academy Award and topped the charts for weeks, was in part a tribute to his father, who had been a great amateur runner. However, he was also somewhat dismissive of the enormous popularity he enjoyed.
Vangelis performs on stage at Aan de Maas, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, June 18, 1991. (Photo by Rob Verhorst/Redferns)
“It’s just another piece of music,” he told a interviewer.
The success of “Chariots of Fire” overshadowed his other scores, but he composed the music for several important films such as “Missing”, directed by his compatriot Costa-Gavras, and Ridley Scott’s futuristic thriller “Blade Runner.”
He was a prolific composer over many decades, with work ranging from advertising music and movie scores to elaborate symphonic-style compositions and “Jon y Vangelis,” his duet with Jon Anderson, lead singer of the prog rock group Yes.
However, it remained wary of commercial success and once told an interviewer that he never saw music as mere entertainment.
(With information from Reuters)