Who was Vangelis, Oscar-winning composer dead at 79?
- The electronic-music pioneer was 79
- Greek media reports say he died in a French hospital
- He was being treated for COVID-19
Vangelis, who won an Oscar for “Chariots of Fire” and composed many such landmark scores like for “Blade Runner,” died Tuesday, the Athens News Agency reported.
The electronic-music pioneer was 79. Greek media reports say he died in a French hospital while being treated for COVID-19.
The musician had a long career in European pop music followed his 1970s solo albums that brought him into global limelight and gave him the key to film music.
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He became prominent in America after the use of a track from his 1975 album “Heaven and Hell” as the theme for Carl Sagan’s 1980 PBS series “Cosmos.”
However, he attained global fame for the 1981 film “Chariots of Fire.” After producer David Puttnam heared Vangelis’s music for the French nature documentary “Opera Sauvage” and the studio album “China,” he picked him.
Vangelis performed all of the instruments, including synthesizer, piano, drums and percussion.
After his Oscar win, Ridley Scott hired him for his science-fiction film “Blade Runner” and Costa-Gavras engaged him for the Jack Lemmon drama “Missing,” both in 1982 and both nominated for BAFTA awards. The Mel GIbson remake of “The Bounty” followed in 1984.
He also did scores for historical dramas such included Ridley Scott’s “1492: Conquest of Paradise” (1992) and Oliver Stone’s “Alexander” (2004).
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Vangelis was born Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou on March 29, 1943.
Vangelis composed for the Greek theater (“Elektra,” 1983, and “Medea,” 1992, both with Irene Papas), for ballets in London (“Modern Prometheus,” 1985, and “Beauty and the Beast,” 1986), and for documentaries by undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau (“Rediscover the World,” 1992).
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