NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Vangelis, the Greece-born composer, has died. He was 79.
The award-winning composer, born Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, died at a French hospital in Paris, according to Greek media. A cause of death has not been released.
Vaneglis produced an Oscar winning score for “Chariots on Fire.” He also produced the score for “Blade Runner” in 1982.
Greek composer of electronic music, Vangelis, has died at 79.
(Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and other government officials expressed their condolences Thursday.
BROADWAY COMPOSER STEPHEN SONDHEIM DEAD AT 91
“Vangelis Papathanassiou is no longer among us,” Mitsotakis tweeted.
“For the whole world, the sad news states that the world music firm has lost the international Vangelis. The protagonist of electronic sound, the Oscars, the Myth and the great hits,” the tweet continued.
The opening credits of “Chariots of Fire” roll as a bunch of young runners progress in slow motion across a glum beach in Scotland, as a lazy, beat-backed tune rises to a magisterial declamation. It’s one of the most instantly recognizable musical themes in cinema — and its standing in popular culture has only been confirmed by the host of spoofs it has sired.
Greek composer Vangelis produced music for “Chariots on Fire” and “Blade Runner.”
(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
The 1981 British film made Vangelis, but his initial encounter with success came with his first Greek pop band in the 1960s.
He evolved into a one-man quasi-classical orchestra, using a vast array of electronic equipment to conjure up his enormously popular undulating waves of sound. A private, humorous man — burly, with shoulder-length hair and a trim beard — he quoted ancient Greek philosophy and saw the artist as a conduit for a basic universal force. He was fascinated by space exploration and wrote music for celestial bodies, but said he never sought stardom himself.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER
Still, a micro-planet spinning somewhere between Mars and Jupiter — 6354 Vangelis — will forever bear his name.
Born on March 29, 1943 near the city of Volos in central Greece, Vangelis started playing the piano at age 4, although he got no formal training and claimed he never learned to read notes.
Vangelis performs on stage at Aan de Maas, Rotterdam, Netherlands, 18th June 1991.
(Photo by Rob Verhorst/Redferns)
“Orchestration, composition — they teach these things in music schools, but there are some things you can never teach,” he said in a 1982 interview. “You can’t teach creation.”
Vangelis later wrote music scores for Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner” (1982) and “1492: Conquest of Paradise” (1992), as well as for “Missing” (1982) and “Antarctica” (1983), among others.
He refused many other offers for film scores, saying in an interview: “Half of the films I see don’t need music. It sounds like something stuffed in.”
Vangelis said he didn’t ever experiment with his music and usually did everything on the first take.
Greek composer of electronic music, Vangelis, surrounded by equipment at a venue in 1976.
(Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)
“When I compose, I perform the music at the same time, so everything is live, nothing is pre-programmed,” he said.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The composer lived in London, Paris and Athens, where he bought a house at the foot of the Acropolis that he never dolled up, even when his street became one of the most desirable pedestrian walks in town. The neoclassical building was nearly demolished in 2007 when government officials decided that it spoilt the view of the ancient citadel from a new museum built next door, but eventually reconsidered.
Vangelis received many awards in Greece, France and the U.S. Little was known of his personal life besides that he was an avid painter.
“Every day I paint and every day I compose music,” he said — in that order.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
