Rest in peace Vangelis, the Oscar-winning composer of 'Chariots of Fire' and 'Blade Runner.' The influential electronic musician also co-founded cult prog-rock band Aphrodite’s Child.
“Vangelis Papathanassiou is no longer with us. For the whole world, this sad news demonstrates that the world music scene has lost the international ‘Vangelis,’ the protagonist of electronic sound, of the Oscars, of Mythology and the hits,” Greece’s prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “For us Greeks, who know his second name was Odysseus, it means that he’s begun his long trip to the Chariots of Fire. From there, he’ll always send us his notes.
Born in Agria and raised in Athens, Papathanassíou learned piano at a young age, though despite being enrolled in an Athens music school, he never formally learned how to read or write music. “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.”
His first band as a teenager was the pop group Formynx, but he left his native country in 1968 amid a coup attempt in Greece. After settling in Paris, Vangelis — a variation of his first name, which he said translates to “an angel that brings good news” — formed the cult progressive rock band Aphrodite’s Child alongside fellow expatriate Greeks.
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