Vangelis, who composed the iconic Chariots of Fire soundtrack, has died at 79

Vangelis became an instant cinema score legend for his iconic soundtracks, and has been hailed “a genius” of composition.

Vangelis, the legendary Greek composer behind the unforgettable score for Chariots of Fire has died at the age of 79.

Vangelis, born Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, died at a French hospital late on Tuesday, May 17.

Greek newspaper OT reports he was being treated for Covid.

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Vangelis, the composer of the legendary Chariots of Fire soundtrack has died. Picture: Georges Bendrihem/AFP

His “private office” announced the news on his Elsewhere fan page, and the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis expressed his condolences for the loss of the “electronic sound trailblazer”.

“Vangelis Papathanassiou is no longer with us,” Mr Mitsotakis tweeted, saying it was “sad news for the entire world”.

Vangelis is perhaps best known for the emphatic opening credits to the 1981 film Chariots of Fire.

The swelling tune, which plays over the slow-motion scene of a group of men running across a dreary beach in Scotland, has become the most recognisable – and perhaps most parodied – themes in cinema.

Chariotsof Fire topped the Billboard 200 for four weeks, was nominated for a Record of the Year Grammy and earned Vangelis – who played all the instruments on the soundtrack – an Academy Award for Best Musical Score.

Although Chariots of Fire is arguably his most famous work, Vangelis’ immersive composition style created bleak urban soundscape of Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic Blade Runner.

He worked with Scott again – and earned an Oscar nomination – for 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992). His other credits include Missing (1982), Antarctica (1983), Roman Polanski’s Bitter Moon (1992) and Oliver Stone’s Alexander (2004).

Vangelis also created music for the 2000 Sydney Olympics and 2021 FIFA World Cup in Japan.

In an interview with Replay Magazine in 1993, Vangelis said he would compose a score like a busker – watching a movie and playing along on his synthesiser “live”.

“When I compose I perform the music at the same time, so everything is live; nothing is pre-programmed,” he said.

“I don’t do any demos. ‘Improvising’ isn’t quite the word for it, but I do use the first idea and impression which comes into my head.

“It’s much quicker, there’s no agonising, and if I make a mistake then I’m the only one who can be blamed. The most important thing is to catch the spirit of the film.”

Born in 1943 in Agria in central Greece, Vangelis started playing the piano at four years old but never formally learned to read or write music – Associated Press reports that he once said you may teach orchestration and composition but “you can’t teach creation”.

It makes his expansive career all the more impressive.

In addition to his film work, Vangelis was renowned as a pop and progressive rock musician through the ’60s and ’70s. In his early 20s, he formed the Greek pop group Formynx, then – after fleeing a coup and military junta – formed the band Aphrodite’s Child in 1970s’ Paris alongside fellow Greek expatriates.

He had a fascination with science, physics, and space exploration, and wrote music for NASA and European Space Agency projects; which earned him NASA’s Public Service Medal in 2003.

In 2018, Vangelis composed a tribute to the late British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking that was broadcast into space.

For all that is known about his career and composition, very little is known about his personal life – Vangelis reportedly bought a house at the foot of the Acropolis that was nearly demolished in 2007 because the government said it spoiled the view from a new museum.

His last record label Decca quite simply called him “a genius”.

“Vangelis created music of extraordinary originality and power, and provided the soundtrack to so many of our lives,” it said.

“His music will live on forever.”

Originally published as Vangelis, who composed the iconic Chariots of Fire soundtrack, has died at 79