ATHENS, GREECE (CelebrityAccess) – Vangelis, the Grecian Oscar-winning composer of Chariots of Fire and other films such as The Bounty, Francesco, Bitter Moon, and Blade Runner died Tuesday (May 17). He was 79. The news was reported by the Athens News Agency. Greek media reports Vangelis died in a French hospital.
It was the music for the 1981 film Chariots of Fire that brought him global fame. Vangelis performed all of the instruments, as he often did in his compositions, including piano, drums, synthesizer, and percussion. The movie theme famously accompanied shots of athletes running along the beach in Scotland, st the start of the movie, which was set prior to the 1924 Olympics.
As a soundtrack, Chariots of Fire reached No. 1 on the Billboard music charts. The signature piece is one of the hardest-to-forget movie tunes worldwide and has served as the background to endless slow-motion parodies.
Vangelis once said the score was in part a tribute to his father, who had been an amateur runne, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and other government officials expressed their condolences Thursday. “Vangelis Papathanassiou is no longer among us. The world of music has lost the international (artist) Vangelis.”
Born Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou 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.
US composer Austin Wintory wrote on Twitter that Vangelis “changed an entire era of music”. Daniel Pemberton said it is “hard to underestimate the colossus impact of Vangelis on modern film music”.
Vangelis went on to be an acclaimed and groundbreaking electronic solo artist after his work in film.
