Vangelis

Greek composer Vangelis ranked among electronic music’s foremost innovators while also establishing himself as a major creator of film scores. Synthesizers functioned in his popular output as orchestral instruments, supporting sweeping romantic lines and densely textured arrangements. Across his catalog, however, he moved through progressive rock, jazz-based improvisation, choral writing, and full symphonic forms. Early recognition arrived via Aphrodite’s Child, the psychedelic and progressive rock group active from the late 1960s into the early 1970s that notched multiple European successes and issued the respected 1972 album 666. Numerous soundtracks and solo releases followed, among them the atmospheric folk-rock of Earth in 1973 and the austere avant-garde electronics of Beaubourg five years later. Worldwide commercial breakthrough came with the stirring main theme for the 1981 film Chariots of Fire and through several projects with former Yes singer Jon Anderson under the name Jon & Vangelis. The most widely praised achievement remains his pioneering score for Ridley Scott’s 1982 dystopian science-fiction landmark Blade Runner. Throughout the 1980s he continued issuing recordings such as the minimalist electronic album Invisible Connections in 1985 and more synth-pop-oriented efforts like Direct in 1988. Additional global success arrived with the score for the 1992 film 1492: Conquest of Paradise. In 2001 he released the choral symphony Mythodea, adopted by NASA as theme music for that year’s Mars Odyssey mission. Later he supplied music for the 2012 stage version of Chariots of Fire and returned to studio albums with Rosetta in 2016; Juno to Jupiter, issued in 2021, drew inspiration from NASA’s Juno space-probe mission.

Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou entered the world in 1943. Piano and other instruments occupied him from age three onward, yet he never acquired the ability to read or write music. Jazz drew his interest as a youth, followed by rock & roll. In the early 1960s he assembled the Athens-based pop and rock outfit the Forminx, which mixed covers with original material and enjoyed domestic success until its 1966 dissolution. During the same period he supplied his earliest film scores, beginning with My Brother, the Traffic Policeman in 1963. After the Forminx disbanded, Vangelis created a psychedelic pop band alongside vocalist Demis Roussos and drummer Lucas Sideras. The musicians sought entry to London but were refused, settling instead in Paris and signing with Mercury Records under the name Aphrodite’s Child. Their debut single, the Pachelbel-inspired “Rain and Tears,” achieved major European sales in 1968 and ultimately exceeded one million copies. End of the World, the group’s first album, appeared before year’s end and drew comparisons to the Moody Blues and Procol Harum.

Aphrodite’s Child’s second album, It’s Five O’Clock, arrived at the close of 1969, though Vangelis declined to tour. Remaining in Paris, he tackled his first substantial film assignment, scoring Henry Chapier’s Sex Power. In 1970 he also recorded music for the wildlife television documentary L’Apocalypse des Animaux, released as a soundtrack album three years afterward. Late in 1970 the band commenced sessions for its third album, 666, a conceptual adaptation of the Book of Revelation devised by Vangelis that proved far more ambitious and progressive than prior releases. The other members preferred a pop direction, and by the time 666 surfaced in 1972 the group had already dissolved. The record nevertheless became an early progressive-rock landmark and is viewed as one of rock’s first concept albums.

Fais Que Ton Rêve Soit Plus Long Que la Nuit, an experimental collage of choral voices, field recordings, and news excerpts centered on the 1968 French student riots, appeared in 1972 and was issued solely in France and Greece. Earth followed in 1973 as Vangelis’ first widely distributed solo album; former Aphrodite’s Child colleagues contributed, blending acoustic instruments and vocals with keyboards in a manner less electronic than much of his subsequent work. Shortly after its release he was invited to replace departing keyboardist Rick Wakeman in Yes. Rehearsals lasted only weeks before he declined the post, yet he formed a lasting friendship with vocalist Jon Anderson, who contributed vocals to the 1975 album Heaven and Hell. Its third movement later featured in Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, while Negativland adopted “12 O’Clock” as the theme for their long-running radio program Over the Edge. Vangelis also scored the Mexican drama Entends-Tu les Chiens Aboyer?, later reissued as Ignacio.

By then based in London, Vangelis established Nemo Studios and signed with RCA Records. Albedo 0.39, released in 1976, explored astrophysics through largely electronic means and became his first U.K. Top 20 album; it included “Pulstar,” subsequently used as television theme music and covered by electronic dance acts such as the Italo-disco group Hipnosis. The same year saw release of his score for the wildlife documentary La Fête Sauvage. Spiral, an arpeggio-driven album drawing on ancient Taoist thought, followed in 1977. Beaubourg, a stark collection of abstract minimalist electronics, appeared in 1978 and remains among his least accessible works. Two unsanctioned albums of 1971 jazz-rock improvisations, Hypothesis and The Dragon, also surfaced that year; Vangelis later prevailed in court against the label and removed them from circulation.

After leaving RCA, Vangelis joined Polydor and issued China in 1979, inspired by the nation’s culture and music. That year he and singer Irene Papas recorded the traditional Greek folk-song collection Odes, while the soundtrack to the nature documentary Opéra Sauvage became one of his strongest U.S. sellers. See You Later, an experimental synth-pop album carrying a bleak, sardonic dystopian concept, opened the 1980s. Also in 1980, Vangelis and Jon Anderson released their first Jon & Vangelis album, Short Stories. The 1981 follow-up The Friends of Mr. Cairo achieved greater success, aided by the singles “I’ll Find My Way Home” and “State of Independence.”

Vangelis attained his greatest commercial triumph in 1981 with the score to Chariots of Fire, a British drama set against the 1924 Olympics. The album occupied the number-one position on the Billboard 200 for four weeks, sold three million copies within a year, and received the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score; its opening title theme reached the top of the charts and endures as his signature piece. The following year he composed the music for Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, a loose adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The rain-soaked atmosphere of the film was perfectly matched by the score, which itself attained cult status, though the soundtrack remained unreleased for over a decade despite BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. Jon & Vangelis’ third album, Private Collection, appeared in 1983. Further electronic solo albums and soundtracks followed, including the score for the Japanese film Antarctica in 1983, the nature-themed Soil Festivities in 1984, the symphonic Mask, and the minimalist Invisible Connections, both from 1985. A second set of Greek folk songs with Irene Papas, Rapsodies, arrived in 1986.

After relocating from London to Athens, Vangelis released the comparatively accessible Direct in 1988. The City followed in 1990, partly recorded in a Rome hotel room during a screening of Roman Polanski’s Bitter Moon. Page of Life, the final Jon Anderson collaboration, appeared in 1991. Vangelis returned to film scoring with 1492: Conquest of Paradise, Ridley Scott’s account of Christopher Columbus’s voyage; the ambitious score earned a Golden Globe nomination yet only reached commercial success in 1995 when athletes and political parties adopted it, ultimately selling more than four million copies. After the official Blade Runner soundtrack finally appeared in 1994, Vangelis issued the downtempo electronic album Voices in 1995, featuring guest vocalists Stina Nordenstam and Paul Young. Oceanic, an aquatic-themed release, followed in 1996, as did A Separate Affair, documenting a 1981 session with Spanish electronic artist Neuronium. El Greco, a neo-classical work with soprano Montserrat Caballé and tenor Konstantinos Paliatsaras, surfaced in 1998; it expanded the limited 1995 release Foros Timis Ston Greco, originally available only at Athens’ National Art Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum.

In 2001 Vangelis performed the choral symphony Mythodea—previously heard in 1993 as Mythodia—in Athens with the London Metropolitan Orchestra, the chorus of the Greek National Opera, and sopranos Jessye Norman and Kathleen Battle. Adopted as official music for the Mars Odyssey mission, a studio recording was issued by Sony Classical as Mythodea: Music for the NASA Mission – 2001 Mars Odyssey. Three years later he scored Oliver Stone’s Alexander. Blade Runner Trilogy: 25th Anniversary, a three-disc set containing the original score, unreleased cues, and newly composed pieces, appeared in 2007. Also that year he released El Greco [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack], music for Yannis Smaragdis’s film and an entirely separate work from the earlier studio album. The 2012 stage adaptation of Chariots of Fire prompted Vangelis’ updated score, issued as Chariots of Fire: Music from the Stage Show, his first Decca release. He scored the 2014 Algerian drama Twilight of Shadows and composed three short pieces for the Rosetta space mission that same year; those pieces formed the basis of the 2016 studio album Rosetta. In 2018 he supplied music for theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking’s memorial, later issued as the limited CD single “The Stephen Hawking Tribute.” Nocturne, comprising revisited older pieces and new grand-piano compositions, appeared in early 2019.

Vangelis’ 2021 album Juno to Jupiter drew inspiration from NASA’s Juno space-probe mission to Jupiter. The multi-dimensional musical journey incorporated the voice of opera superstar Angela Gheorghiu along with sounds captured at Earth’s Juno launch, from the probe itself, and from Jupiter transmitted 365 million miles back to Earth. Vangelis died at a French hospital on May 17, 2022, at the age of 79.