People
Vangelis
Sound · follow into films and chains
Biography
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou (Greek: Ευάγγελος Οδυσσέας Παπαθανασίου, pronounced [eˈvaɲɟelos oðiˈseas papaθanaˈsi.u]; 29 March 1943 – 17 May 2022), known professionally as Vangelis (/væŋˈɡɛlɪs/ vang-GHEL-iss; Greek: Βαγγέλης, pronounced [vaɲˈɟelis]), was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed the Academy Award-winning score to Chariots of Fire (1981), as well as scores for the films Blade Runner (1982), Missing (1982), Antarctica (1983), The Bounty (1984), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), and Alexander (2004), and the 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan. Born in Agria and raised in Athens, Vangelis began his career in the 1960s as a member of the rock bands the Forminx and Aphrodite's Child; the latter's album 666 (1972) is recognised as a progressive-psychedelic rock classic. Vangelis settled in Paris and gained initial recognition for his scores to the Frédéric Rossif animal documentaries L'Apocalypse des Animaux, La Fête sauvage, and Opéra sauvage. He released his first solo albums during this time and performed as a solo artist. In 1975, Vangelis relocated to London, where he built his home recording facility named Nemo Studios and released a series of successful and influential albums for RCA Records, including Heaven and Hell (1975), Albedo 0.39 (1976), Spiral (1977), and China (1979). From 1979 to 1986, Vangelis performed in a duo with Yes vocalist Jon Anderson, releasing several albums as Jon and Vangelis. He collaborated with Irene Papas on two albums of Greek traditional and religious songs. Vangelis reached his commercial peak in the 1980s and 1990s. His score for Chariots of Fire (1981) won him an Academy Award for Best Original Score and the film's main theme, "Chariots of Fire – Titles,” went to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, while his score for 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, and the film's soundtrack and main theme topped the European charts, selling millions of copies. His compilation albums Themes (1989), Portraits (So Long Ago, So Clear) (1996), and studio album Voices (1995) sold well. Vangelis composed the official anthem of the 2002 FIFA World Cup held in Korea and Japan. In his last 20 years, Vangelis collaborated with NASA and ESA on music projects Mythodea (1993), Rosetta (2016), and Juno to Jupiter (2021), his 23rd and final studio album. He died on 17 May 2022, at age 79, of heart failure at a hospital in Paris. Having had a career in music spanning over 50 years, and having composed and performed more than 50 albums, Vangelis is one of the most important figures in the history of electronic music and modern film music. He used many electronic instruments in the fashion of a "one-man quasi-classical orchestra," composing and performing on the first take. Description above from the Wikipedia article Vangelis, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Notable films
Where to start
Highlights from credits and KinoChain journeys.
Blade Runner
Appears in a KinoChain journey
Bitter Moon
Appears in a KinoChain journey
The Bounty
Appears in a KinoChain journey
The Plague
Appears in a KinoChain journey
Alexander
Original Music Composer
Chariots of Fire
Original Music Composer
Vangelis – Eureka (Live at Rotterdam, 1991)
As Himself
Frenzy
Original Music Composer
Chains
KinoChain journeys
Public chains that pass through their films — or name them as a bridge.
The Discs That Changed How Britain Watched
When DVD landed in Britain in 1997 it promised cinema in your living room. The discs that followed rewired what collectors expected from a film at home.
10 films
Small Craft Warnings
From the open sea to a leaky skiff, these eight films use small boats as vessels for self-discovery, each one a different kind of voyage.
8 films
When the World Catches Cold
From Contagion's clinical dread to the surreal end of days, a chain of films about outbreaks, science, and the fraying of society.
7 films
When Money Buys Trouble
From Brooklyn to the world, a chain of films where transactions turn tender, then treacherous.
8 films
The Art of Listening
From the whisper of a surveillance tape to the roar of a wartime beach, these eight films prove that sound is not just heard, it is felt. A chain of masterpiece...
7 films
The Mind's Eye: Crime Films of Obsession and Interiority
From a detective's haunted pursuit to a killer's fractured psyche, this chain traces cinema's most intimate crime stories, where the real action happens inside...
8 films
Moana and the Sea as Mirror and Crucible
Taking the core premise of Moana (the ocean as a living force that tests, transforms, and reveals who you are) and steering it into far darker territory, this c...
8 films
20 Home Video Releases Every Film Obsessive Should Own
There was a brief, glorious period in the late 1990s and early 2000s when buying a film on home video felt less like acquiring a product and more like being han...
20 films
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