Vangelis, the Oscar-winning composer of the music for Chariots of Fireplace and Blade Runner, and a pioneer of digital music, has died. He was 79.
In line with a number of media shops within the musician’s native Greece, Vangelis died of coronavirus in France, the place he lived part-time. He additionally had properties in London and Athens.
“It’s with nice disappointment that we announce that the nice Greek Vangelis Papathanassiou handed away late on the evening of Tuesday, Could 17,” Vangelis’s lawyer was quoted as saying by the ANA information company.
Over his greater than 50-year profession, Vangelis was famend for his musical experimentation and eclectic influences. He gained an Oscar in 1982 for his theme for the British movie Chariots of Fireplace, and went on to develop the scores for a slew of different films, together with Ridley Scott’s cult basic Blade Runner, in addition to for theatre and ballet.
“Vangelis Papathanassiou is now not with us,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis tweeted.
“The world of music has misplaced the worldwide (artist) Vangelis.”
Born Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou in central Greece, Vangelis developed an early curiosity in music and experimented with sound by banging pots and pans or fixing nails, glasses and different objects to the strings of his dad and mom’ piano. He carried out his first piano live performance on the age of six.
“I’ve by no means studied music,” he instructed Greek journal Periodiko in 1988, wherein he additionally bemoaned rising “exploitation” by studios and the media.
“At one time there was a craziness … now it’s a job.”
“You may promote 1,000,000 data whereas feeling like a failure. Otherwise you won’t promote something feeling very completely happy,” he mentioned.
After finding out portray on the Athens Faculty of Advantageous Arts, Vangelis made his begin with native Greek rock bands. He left for Paris when he was 25, a part of an exodus of creative expertise following the 1967 army coup.
In Paris, he joined fellow Greeks Demis Roussos and Lucas Sideras within the progressive rock band Aphrodite’s Little one, reaching cult standing and promoting hundreds of thousands of data earlier than they broke up in 1972.
Fascinated by the then-new area of digital synthesizers, Vangelis settled in London in 1974, the place he established Nemo Studios, the “sound laboratory” that produced most of his solo albums for greater than a decade.
However he valued his independence over document gross sales.
“Success is good and treacherous,” the composer instructed Britain’s Observer newspaper in 2012. “As an alternative of having the ability to transfer ahead freely and do what you actually want, you end up caught and obliged to repeat your self.”
‘Advert astra’
Vangelis, who had a minor planet named after him in 1995, had a fascination with house from an early age.
In 1980, he contributed music to Carl Sagan’s award-winning science documentary Cosmos. He wrote music for NASA’s 2001 Mars Odyssey and its Juno Jupiter missions, in addition to a Grammy-nominated album impressed by the Rosetta house probe mission in 2016.
On Twitter, NASA paid tribute with the phrases ‘Advert astra’ (to the celebs), sharing a video from the Juno mission.
Advert astra, Vangelis.
The movie composer contributed scores to explorations by our #JunoMission to Jupiter. Right here, trip together with the @NASASolarSystem spacecraft round Jupiter and moon Ganymede, with sound up.
Full playlist: https://t.co/bNyqzQGWRS pic.twitter.com/2QbjoKStko
— NASA (@NASA) May 19, 2022
In 2018, he composed a bit for the funeral of Stephen Hawking that included the late professor’s phrases and was broadcast into house by the European Area Company.
He was showered with honours, receiving the Max Steiner movie music award, France’s Legion d’Honneur, NASA’s Public Service Medal and Greece’s prime honour, the Order of the Phoenix.
Vangelis rigorously guarded his privateness and little identified was identified of his private life.
“I don’t give interviews, as a result of I’ve to attempt to say issues that I don’t have to say,” he instructed the LA Instances in 2019.
“The one factor I have to do is simply to make music.”
