Vangelis
Encyclopedia
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou ( evˈaɲɟelos oðiˈseas papaθanaˈsiu) (born 29 March 1943) is a Greek
composer of electronic
, progressive
, ambient
, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis (English pronunciation: væŋˈɡɛlɨs). He is best known for his Academy Award
-winning score for the film Chariots of Fire
, and scores for the films Blade Runner
, 1492: Conquest of Paradise
and Alexander
.
Vangelis began his professional musical career working with several popular bands of the 1960s such as The Forminx and Aphrodite's Child
, with the latter's album 666 going on to be recognized as a psychedelic
"classic". Throughout the 1970s, Vangelis composed music scores for several animal documentaries, including L'Apocalypse Des Animaux
, La Fête sauvage
and Opéra sauvage
; the success of these scores brought him into the film scoring mainstream. In the early 1980s, Vangelis formed a musical partnership with Jon Anderson
, the lead singer of progressive rock band Yes
, and the duo went on to release several albums together as Jon & Vangelis. In 1981, he composed the score for the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire
. The soundtrack's single, "Titles", won Vangelis the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score and also reached the top of the American Billboard
.
In a career spanning 50 years, writing and composing more than 52 albums, Vangelis is regarded by some music critics as one of the greatest composers of electronic music
of all time.
, Greece. Largely a self-taught musician, he reportedly began composing at the age of four. He refused to take traditional piano lessons, and throughout his career did not have substantial knowledge of reading or writing musical notation. He studied painting—an art he still practises—at the Academy of Fine Arts in Athens. When he was six, Vangelis's parents enrolled him at a specialist music school in Athens. Vangelis said in an interview with Life
, when asked about his lack of ability to read music:
Around the time of the student riots in 1968, Vangelis founded progressive rock
band Aphrodite's Child
together with Demis Roussos
, Loukas Sideras
and Anargyros "Silver" Koulouris. After an unsuccessful attempt to enter the UK, they found a home in Paris where they recorded their first single, a hit across much of Europe called Rain and Tears. Other singles followed, including two albums, which, in total, sold over 20 million copies. The record sales led the record company to request a third album, and Vangelis went on to conceive the double-album 666, based on Revelation
, the last book in the Bible. One of the many remarkable features of this album is Irene Papas
's guest participation (vocal on "Infinity"). Tensions between members during the recording of 666 eventually caused the split of the band in 1971, but the album was still released in 1972. Despite the split, Vangelis has since produced several albums and singles for Demis Roussos, who, in turn, contributed vocals to the Blade Runner soundtrack.
with a group of musicians at Marquee Studios in London had resulted in two albums' worth of material, unofficially released without Vangelis' permission in 1978, titled Hypothesis (aka Visions of the Future), and The Dragon
. Vangelis succeeded in taking legal action to have them withdrawn. A more successful project was his scoring of wildlife films made by French filmmaker
Frédéric Rossif
. The first was L'Apocalypse des animaux
, released in 1973. In 1972, the student riots of 1968 provided the inspiration for an album titled Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit (Make Your Dream Last Longer Than the Night), comprising musical passages mixed with news snippets and protest songs; some lyrics were based on graffiti daubed on walls during the riots.
of "Words
" fame). This line-up, later briefly going out under the name "Odyssey", released a single in 1974 titled "Who", but that was Vangelis' last involvement with them. Later in 1974, Vangelis was widely tipped to join another prog-rock band, Yes
, following the departure of Rick Wakeman
. After a couple of weeks of rehearsals Vangelis wavered on the option of joining Yes and, the band had to detour and hire Swiss keyboard player Patrick Moraz
instead, who later joined The Moody Blues
. Vangelis did, however, become friends with Yes' lead vocalist Jon Anderson
, and later worked with him on several occasions, including as the duo Jon & Vangelis.
After moving to London, Vangelis signed with RCA Records
, set up his own studio, Nemo Studios
, and began recording a string of electronic albums, such as Heaven and Hell (1975), Albedo 0.39
(1976), Spiral (1977), Beaubourg
(1978), and China
(1979). Parts of Heaven and Hell were later used as the theme to the PBS
television series Cosmos
by Carl Sagan
. Two melodies from Albedo 0.39
, "Alpha" and "Pulstar", and also one track from L'Apocalypse des animaux
, "Création du Monde", were also used in Cosmos. Another part (the song "So Long Ago, So Clear"), featured guest vocals by Jon Anderson
, marking the start of the partnership. Vangelis also contributed as a producer and keyboard player to the album Phos, by the Greek rock band Socrates Drank the Conium
(later known simply as Socrates).
In 1979, Vangelis composed the score for another animal documentary by Frédéric Rossif
, Opéra sauvage
. Almost as well known as L'Apocalypse des animaux
, the resulting soundtrack would bring him to the attention of some of the world's top filmmakers. The music itself would be re-used in other films (most notably the track "L'Enfant" in The Year of Living Dangerously
(1982) by Peter Weir
) and television commercials (the track "Hymne", used in Barilla pasta commercials in Italy and Ernest & Julio Gallo
wine ads in the US).
, set at the 1924 Summer Olympics
. The choice of music was unorthodox as most period films featured traditional orchestral scores, whereas Vangelis' music was modern and synthesizer-heavy. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture
and Vangelis won the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score. The opening theme of the film was released as a single in 1982, topping the American Billboard chart for one week after climbing steadily for five months.
Greek musician Stavros Logarides claimed Vangelis had copied the melody of "Titles" from one of his compositions called "City of Violets". Member of a 1970s band called Poll, and a friend of Vangelis at the time, Logarides sued Vangelis for plagiarism
in 1987. At the court hearing, Vangelis set up synthesizers in the courtroom and played for the judge to demonstrate his compositional process. The judge ruled that any similarities in the melody were minor and "Titles" was a Vangelis original.
Other notable Vangelis soundtracks were Antarctica
for the film Nankyoku Monogatari
in 1983, and The Bounty
in 1984. Vangelis also collaborated in 1981 and 1986 with Italian singer Milva
, achieving success especially in Germany with the albums Ich hab' keine Angst and Geheimnisse (I have no fear and Secrets). The Italian language
Nana Mouskouri
album also featured her singing Vangelis composition "Ti Amerò". Collaboration numbers with lyricist Mikalis Bourboulis sung by Maria Farantouri included the tracks "Odi A", "San Elektra", and "Tora Xero".
The main theme for Chariots of Fire was also chosen by Apple's co-founder Steven P. Jobs for public introduction of Macintosh computer.
, to write the score for the science fiction film Blade Runner
. Capturing the isolation and melancholy of Harrison Ford
's character,
Rick Deckard, the Vangelis score is as much a part of the dystopian environment as the decaying buildings and ever-present rain.
A disagreement led to Vangelis withholding permission for his performance of the music from Blade Runner to be released, and the studio instead hired a group of musicians dubbed "The New American Orchestra" to record the official LP
released at the time. It took 12 years before the disagreement was resolved and Vangelis's own work was released in the United States, in 1994. The soundtrack was still incomplete, as the film contained some non-Vangelis tracks as well. Over the years a series of bootleg recordings of Blade Runner soundtrack from unknown sources have been released, mostly targeted to collectors as "private releases", that contain most of the music cues (including the Ladd Company logo theme). A three disc box set was released in late 2007 containing the 1994 album, a second disc containing some more of the missing music cues and a third disc of new Vangelis material inspired by Blade Runner. The 2007 release still lacks some incidental music, most notably the background music from the Taffey Lewis bar scene featuring vocals by Demis Roussos
.
released the film 1492: Conquest of Paradise
, also directed by Ridley Scott
, as a 500th anniversary commemoration of Christopher Columbus
' voyage to the New World. Vangelis's score was nominated as "Best Original Score – Motion Picture" at the 1993 Golden Globe awards, but was not nominated for an Academy Award.
Elektra
which was performed featuring Irene Papas
at the open-air amphitheater at Epidavros in Greece. The same year Vangelis composed his first score for a ballet by Wayne Eagling
. It was originally performed by Lesley Colier and Wayne Eagling himself at an Amnesty International
gala in Drury Lane
, but in 1984 the Royal Ballet School
presented it again at the Sadler's Wells theater. In 1985 and 1986, Vangelis wrote music for two more ballets: "Frankenstein – Modern Prometheus" and "The Beauty and the Beast". In 1992, Vangelis wrote the music for the Euripides
play, Medea
, that featured Irene Papas
. In the 90's, Vangelis scored a number of undersea documentaries for French ecologist and filmmaker, Jacques-Yves Cousteau
.
During 1980, six years after Vangelis decided against joining Yes
, he and Jon Anderson
, the lead singer of Yes, released their first album together, Short Stories, under the band name of Jon & Vangelis. They would eventually go on to release three more afterwards; The Friends of Mr. Cairo
, Private Collection and Page of Life
released in 1981, 1983, and 1991 respectively.
Vangelis performed live and released Mythodea
, a predominantly orchestral rather than electronic piece that was originally written in 1993, and used by NASA
as the theme for the Mars Odyssey
mission in 2001. A year later, in 2002, Vangelis created the 2002 FIFA World Cup Official Anthem for the 2002 World Cup
.
In 2004, Vangelis released the score for Oliver Stone
's Alexander
, continuing his involvement with projects related to Greece. Vangelis released 2 albums in 2007; the first was a 3 CD set for the 25th Anniversary of Blade Runner, titled Blade Runner Trilogy and second was the soundtrack for the Greek movie, El Greco, titled El Greco Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
.
. At the time of the Telegraph interview, Vangelis was involved in his third long-term relationship. When asked why he had not had children, Vangelis replied:
Excerpts from other interviews mention that Vangelis has been married twice before. In a 1976 interview with Dutch music magazine Oor, the author wrote that Vangelis had a wife named Veronique Skawinska who was a photographer who had done some album art work for Vangelis. An interview
in 1982 with Backstage music magazine suggests that Vangelis had previously been married to a singer named Vana Verouti, who had performed vocals on some of his records, performing for the first time with him on La Fête sauvage
and later on Heaven and Hell
.
, especially the Greek music of his homeland." Vangelis' music and compositions have also been described as "...a distinctive sound with simple, repetitive yet memorable tunes against evocative rhythms and chord progressions." He often used vibrato
on his synthesizers, which was carried out in a distinctive way on his Yamaha CS80 polyphonic synthesizer; varying the pressure exerted on the key to produce the expressive vibrato sound.
In an interview with Soundtrack, a music and film website, Vangelis talked about his compositional processes. For films, Vangelis stated that he would begin composing a score for a feature as soon as he sees a rough cut of the footage. In addition to working with synthesizers and other electronically based instruments, Vangelis also works with and is a conductor to orchestras. For example, in the Oliver Stone
film Alexander
, Vangelis conducted an orchestra that consisted of various classical instruments including sitars, percussion, finger cymbals, harps and duduk
s.
Vangelis uses a technique of recording all tracks simultaneously
on tape, using a Zyklus MIDI Performance System. The album Direct is named after the successor to the Zyklus which was being specially manufactured for him by the Zyklus MPS designers, Bill Marshall, Pete Kellock and Mike Crisp.
named after him (6354 Vangelis
) by the International Astronomical Union
's Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
; the name was proposed by the MPC's co-director, Gareth V. Williams, rather than by the object's original discoverer, Eugène Joseph Delporte
, who died in 1955, long before the 1934 discovery could be confirmed by observations made in 1990. NASA
conferred their Public Service Medal to Vangelis in 2003. The award is the highest honour the space agency presents to an individual not involved with the American government. Five years later, in 2008, the board of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
voted to make Vangelis an Honorary Doctor, making him Professor Emeritus at their Faculty of Primary Education. In June 2008, the American Hellenic Institute honoured Vangelis with an AHI Hellenic Heritage Achievement Award for his "exceptional artistic achievements" as a pioneer in electronic music and for his lifelong dedication to the promotion of Hellenism
through the arts.
nominated Vangelis' scores for Blade Runner
and Chariots of Fire
for their list of the 250 greatest film scores
.
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
composer of electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
, progressive
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
, ambient
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
, jazz, pop rock and orchestral music, under the artist name Vangelis (English pronunciation: væŋˈɡɛlɨs). He is best known for his Academy Award
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
-winning score for the film Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
, and scores for the films Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
, 1492: Conquest of Paradise
1492: Conquest of Paradise
1492: Conquest of Paradise is an epic 1992 European adventure/drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Roselyne Bosch, which tells the story of the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus and the effect this had on the indigenous people...
and Alexander
Alexander (film)
Alexander is a 2004 epic film based on the life of Alexander the Great. It is not a remake of the 1956 film which starred Richard Burton. It was directed by Oliver Stone, with Colin Farrell in the title role...
.
Vangelis began his professional musical career working with several popular bands of the 1960s such as The Forminx and Aphrodite's Child
Aphrodite's Child
Aphrodite's Child was a Greek progressive rock band formed in 1967, by Vangelis Papathanassiou , Demis Roussos , Loukas Sideras , and Anargyros "Silver" Koulouris . Their band's name was derived from the title of a track from another Mercury act, Dick Campbell, from his Sings Where It's At album...
, with the latter's album 666 going on to be recognized as a psychedelic
Psychedelic music
Psychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...
"classic". Throughout the 1970s, Vangelis composed music scores for several animal documentaries, including L'Apocalypse Des Animaux
L'Apocalypse des Animaux (album)
L'Apocalypse des animaux is a soundtrack album by Greek composer Vangelis. The album's music accompanied a documentary series about the animal kingdom directed by Frédéric Rossif that was first broadcasted on French TV in 1970.-Track listing:...
, La Fête sauvage
La Fête Sauvage
La Fête sauvage is an original score album, by Greek composer Vangelis , from the 1975 documentary, about animal wildlife, by Frédéric Rossif.-Overview:...
and Opéra sauvage
Opera Sauvage
Opéra sauvage is a 1979 album, by Greek composer and artist Vangelis, of the score for the nature documentary by the same title by French filmmaker Frédéric Rossif. The album sleeve design is by Vangelis himself....
; the success of these scores brought him into the film scoring mainstream. In the early 1980s, Vangelis formed a musical partnership with Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
, the lead singer of progressive rock band Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
, and the duo went on to release several albums together as Jon & Vangelis. In 1981, he composed the score for the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
. The soundtrack's single, "Titles", won Vangelis the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score and also reached the top of the American Billboard
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
.
In a career spanning 50 years, writing and composing more than 52 albums, Vangelis is regarded by some music critics as one of the greatest composers of electronic music
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
of all time.
Formative years
Vangelis was born 29 March 1943, near VolosVolos
Volos is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about 326 km north of Athens and 215 km south of Thessaloniki...
, Greece. Largely a self-taught musician, he reportedly began composing at the age of four. He refused to take traditional piano lessons, and throughout his career did not have substantial knowledge of reading or writing musical notation. He studied painting—an art he still practises—at the Academy of Fine Arts in Athens. When he was six, Vangelis's parents enrolled him at a specialist music school in Athens. Vangelis said in an interview with Life
Life (magazine)
Life generally refers to three American magazines:*A humor and general interest magazine published from 1883 to 1936. Time founder Henry Luce bought the magazine in 1936 solely so that he could acquire the rights to its name....
, when asked about his lack of ability to read music:
"When the teachers asked me to play something, I would pretend that I was reading it and play from memory. I didn't fool them, but I didn't care."
Work in bands
In the early 1960s he was one of the founders of pop group The Forminx (or The Formynx), which became popular in Greece. Based in Athens, the five-piece band played a mixture of cover versions and their own material, the latter written mostly by Vangelis (with lyrics by DJ and record producer Nico Mastorakis) but still sung in English. The Forminx released nine hit singles and a Christmas EP before disbanding in 1966 at the peak of their success. A film being made about them at the time, which was initially directed by Theo Angelopoulos, was never fully completed, and the songs, composed for the movie, were never released. Vangelis spent the next two years mostly studio-bound, writing and producing for other Greek artists.Around the time of the student riots in 1968, Vangelis founded progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
band Aphrodite's Child
Aphrodite's Child
Aphrodite's Child was a Greek progressive rock band formed in 1967, by Vangelis Papathanassiou , Demis Roussos , Loukas Sideras , and Anargyros "Silver" Koulouris . Their band's name was derived from the title of a track from another Mercury act, Dick Campbell, from his Sings Where It's At album...
together with Demis Roussos
Demis Roussos
Artemios Ventouris Roussos is a Greek singer and performer, best known for being the main musical partner of movie soundtrack composer Vangelis and a string of international hit records as a solo performer in the 1960s and 1970s...
, Loukas Sideras
Loukas Sideras
Lucas Sideras, born in Athens , is the former drummer of the Greek progressive rock band Aphrodite's Child.-Aphrodite's Child:...
and Anargyros "Silver" Koulouris. After an unsuccessful attempt to enter the UK, they found a home in Paris where they recorded their first single, a hit across much of Europe called Rain and Tears. Other singles followed, including two albums, which, in total, sold over 20 million copies. The record sales led the record company to request a third album, and Vangelis went on to conceive the double-album 666, based on Revelation
Book of Revelation
The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament. The title came into usage from the first word of the book in Koine Greek: apokalupsis, meaning "unveiling" or "revelation"...
, the last book in the Bible. One of the many remarkable features of this album is Irene Papas
Irene Papas
Irene Papas is a Greek actress and occasional singer, who has starred in over seventy films in a career spanning more than fifty years.-Life:...
's guest participation (vocal on "Infinity"). Tensions between members during the recording of 666 eventually caused the split of the band in 1971, but the album was still released in 1972. Despite the split, Vangelis has since produced several albums and singles for Demis Roussos, who, in turn, contributed vocals to the Blade Runner soundtrack.
Early solo works
While still in Aphrodite's Child, Vangelis had already been involved in other projects. In 1970 he had composed the score for a film called Sex Power (Demis Roussos sang vocals). In 1971, some jam sessionsJam Sessions
Jam Sessions is a guitar simulation software title and music game for the Nintendo DS based on the Japan-only title Sing & Play DS Guitar M-06 originally developed by Plato. It was brought to North America and Europe, courtesy of Ubisoft...
with a group of musicians at Marquee Studios in London had resulted in two albums' worth of material, unofficially released without Vangelis' permission in 1978, titled Hypothesis (aka Visions of the Future), and The Dragon
The Dragon (Vangelis album)
The Dragon is a 1978 album by the Greek artist Vangelis.-Background:After the break-up of Aphrodite's Child, Vangelis wanted to relocate to London. Producer Giorgio Gomelsky introduced him to some other musicians and put together a collaborative project which was funded by French free jazz record...
. Vangelis succeeded in taking legal action to have them withdrawn. A more successful project was his scoring of wildlife films made by French filmmaker
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
Frédéric Rossif
Frédéric Rossif
Frédéric Rossif was a French film and television director who specialized primarily on documentaries, frequently using archive footage. Rossif's common themes included wildlife, 20th century history and contemporary artists...
. The first was L'Apocalypse des animaux
L'Apocalypse des Animaux (album)
L'Apocalypse des animaux is a soundtrack album by Greek composer Vangelis. The album's music accompanied a documentary series about the animal kingdom directed by Frédéric Rossif that was first broadcasted on French TV in 1970.-Track listing:...
, released in 1973. In 1972, the student riots of 1968 provided the inspiration for an album titled Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit (Make Your Dream Last Longer Than the Night), comprising musical passages mixed with news snippets and protest songs; some lyrics were based on graffiti daubed on walls during the riots.
Solo career
In 1973 Vangelis' solo career began in earnest. His first "official" solo album was Earth, though it did actually feature a group of musicians including ex-Aphrodite's Child guitarist Silver Koulouris and also vocalist and songwriter Robert Fitoussi (better known as F.R. DavidF.R. David
F. R. David F. R. David F. R. David (born Elli Robert Fitoussi, 1 January 1947, Menzel Bourguiba, Tunisia is a Tunisian-born French singer.-Career:During the early 1970s, he was a band member in the French rock band, Les Variations. His personal "trademarks" are his sunglasses and his guitar (a...
of "Words
Words (F. R. David song)
"Words" is a 1982 romantic song by F. R. David, which sold 8 million copies worldwide and peaked at #2 on the British charts in spring of 1983. It was a huge European hit, peaking at #1 in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Austria and Norway. It also went to #1 in South Africa in late 1982 and spent...
" fame). This line-up, later briefly going out under the name "Odyssey", released a single in 1974 titled "Who", but that was Vangelis' last involvement with them. Later in 1974, Vangelis was widely tipped to join another prog-rock band, Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
, following the departure of Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher Wakeman is an English keyboard player, composer and songwriter best known for being the former keyboardist in the progressive rock band Yes...
. After a couple of weeks of rehearsals Vangelis wavered on the option of joining Yes and, the band had to detour and hire Swiss keyboard player Patrick Moraz
Patrick Moraz
Patrick Philippe Moraz is a progressive rock keyboard player. He is best known as the keyboardist for the progressive rock band Yes, from 1974 to 1976, and the Moody Blues from 1978 to 1991...
instead, who later joined The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
. Vangelis did, however, become friends with Yes' lead vocalist Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
, and later worked with him on several occasions, including as the duo Jon & Vangelis.
After moving to London, Vangelis signed with RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
, set up his own studio, Nemo Studios
Nemo Studios
Nemo Studios was a recording studio in London, planned, built and used by Greek composer Vangelis in 1975–87. Numerous highlights of Vangelis' career were composed in Nemo, including soundtracks for Ridley Scott's Blade Runner, Hugh Hudson's Chariots of Fire and Roger Donaldson's The...
, and began recording a string of electronic albums, such as Heaven and Hell (1975), Albedo 0.39
Albedo 0.39
Albedo 0.39 is an album by the artist Vangelis, released in 1976. It is a concept album around space and space physics.Albedo 0.39 was the second album produced by Vangelis in Nemo Studios, London, which was his creative base until the late 1980s...
(1976), Spiral (1977), Beaubourg
Beaubourg (album)
Beaubourg is a 1978 album by the Greek artist Vangelis. It is entirely synthesizer-based and highly experimental; together with Hypothesis it is often considered to be one of Vangelis' least accessible works...
(1978), and China
China (album)
China is a 1979 album by the Greek artist Vangelis. Although he had never been to China, he employed Chinese instruments and compositional styles on this concept album.- Track listing :# "Chung Kuo" – 5:31# "The Long March" – 2:01...
(1979). Parts of Heaven and Hell were later used as the theme to the PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
television series Cosmos
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage is a thirteen-part television series written by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan, and Steven Soter, with Sagan as presenter. It was executive-produced by Adrian Malone, produced by David Kennard, Geoffrey Haines-Stiles and Gregory Andorfer, and directed by the producers, David...
by Carl Sagan
Carl Sagan
Carl Edward Sagan was an American astronomer, astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, science popularizer and science communicator in astronomy and natural sciences. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and was author, co-author or editor of more than 20 books...
. Two melodies from Albedo 0.39
Albedo 0.39
Albedo 0.39 is an album by the artist Vangelis, released in 1976. It is a concept album around space and space physics.Albedo 0.39 was the second album produced by Vangelis in Nemo Studios, London, which was his creative base until the late 1980s...
, "Alpha" and "Pulstar", and also one track from L'Apocalypse des animaux
L'Apocalypse des Animaux (album)
L'Apocalypse des animaux is a soundtrack album by Greek composer Vangelis. The album's music accompanied a documentary series about the animal kingdom directed by Frédéric Rossif that was first broadcasted on French TV in 1970.-Track listing:...
, "Création du Monde", were also used in Cosmos. Another part (the song "So Long Ago, So Clear"), featured guest vocals by Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
, marking the start of the partnership. Vangelis also contributed as a producer and keyboard player to the album Phos, by the Greek rock band Socrates Drank the Conium
Socrates Drank the Conium
Socrates Drank the Conium is a Greek progressive/blues rock band that formed in 1969 and was active in the early 1970s. Their sound was reminiscent of other such bands of the approximate period like the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Led Zeppelin, Cream, Jeff Beck and some of the more progressive,...
(later known simply as Socrates).
In 1979, Vangelis composed the score for another animal documentary by Frédéric Rossif
Frédéric Rossif
Frédéric Rossif was a French film and television director who specialized primarily on documentaries, frequently using archive footage. Rossif's common themes included wildlife, 20th century history and contemporary artists...
, Opéra sauvage
Opera Sauvage
Opéra sauvage is a 1979 album, by Greek composer and artist Vangelis, of the score for the nature documentary by the same title by French filmmaker Frédéric Rossif. The album sleeve design is by Vangelis himself....
. Almost as well known as L'Apocalypse des animaux
L'Apocalypse des Animaux (album)
L'Apocalypse des animaux is a soundtrack album by Greek composer Vangelis. The album's music accompanied a documentary series about the animal kingdom directed by Frédéric Rossif that was first broadcasted on French TV in 1970.-Track listing:...
, the resulting soundtrack would bring him to the attention of some of the world's top filmmakers. The music itself would be re-used in other films (most notably the track "L'Enfant" in The Year of Living Dangerously
The Year of Living Dangerously
The Year of Living Dangerously is a 1982 Peter Weir film adapted from the novel The Year of Living Dangerously by the author Christopher Koch. The story is about a love affair set in Indonesia during the overthrow of President Sukarno...
(1982) by Peter Weir
Peter Weir
Peter Lindsay Weir, AM is an Australian film director. After playing a leading role in the Australian New Wave cinema with his films such as Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli, Weir directed a diverse group of American and international films—many of them major box office...
) and television commercials (the track "Hymne", used in Barilla pasta commercials in Italy and Ernest & Julio Gallo
E & J Gallo Winery
E & J Gallo Winery was founded in 1933 by Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo in Modesto, California. E & J Gallo Winery is the largest exporter of California wines and is a large promoter of wines from Sonoma County.-History:...
wine ads in the US).
Chariots of Fire
In 1981, Vangelis wrote the score for the film Chariots of FireChariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
, set at the 1924 Summer Olympics
1924 Summer Olympics
The 1924 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the VIII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1924 in Paris, France...
. The choice of music was unorthodox as most period films featured traditional orchestral scores, whereas Vangelis' music was modern and synthesizer-heavy. The movie won the Academy Award for Best Picture
Academy Award for Best Picture
The Academy Award for Best Picture is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to artists working in the motion picture industry. The Best Picture category is the only category in which every member of the Academy is eligible not only...
and Vangelis won the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score. The opening theme of the film was released as a single in 1982, topping the American Billboard chart for one week after climbing steadily for five months.
Greek musician Stavros Logarides claimed Vangelis had copied the melody of "Titles" from one of his compositions called "City of Violets". Member of a 1970s band called Poll, and a friend of Vangelis at the time, Logarides sued Vangelis for plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
in 1987. At the court hearing, Vangelis set up synthesizers in the courtroom and played for the judge to demonstrate his compositional process. The judge ruled that any similarities in the melody were minor and "Titles" was a Vangelis original.
Other notable Vangelis soundtracks were Antarctica
Antarctica (Vangelis album)
- Personnel :* Vangelis – arrangements, all instruments and producer* Raine Shine – engineer...
for the film Nankyoku Monogatari
Nankyoku Monogatari
is a 1983 Japanese film directed by Koreyoshi Kurahara and starring Ken Takakura. Its plot centers on the 1958 ill-fated Japanese scientific expedition to the South Pole, its dramatic rescue from the impossible weather conditions on the return journey, the relationship between the scientists and...
in 1983, and The Bounty
The Bounty
The Bounty is a 1984 British historical film directed by Roger Donaldson, starring Mel Gibson and Anthony Hopkins, and produced by Bernard Williams with Dino De Laurentiis as executive producer. It is the fifth film version of the story of the mutiny on the Bounty. The screenplay was by Robert Bolt...
in 1984. Vangelis also collaborated in 1981 and 1986 with Italian singer Milva
Milva
Maria Ilva Biolcati , known as Milva, is an Italian singer, actress and television personality. She is also known as 'La Rossa', , due to the colour of her hair, and additionally as the 'Panther of Goro', which stems from the Italian press having nicknamed the three most popular Italian female...
, achieving success especially in Germany with the albums Ich hab' keine Angst and Geheimnisse (I have no fear and Secrets). The Italian language
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
Nana Mouskouri
Nana Mouskouri
Nana Mouskouri , born Ioánna Moúschouri on October 13, 1934, in Chania, Crete, Greece, is a Greek singer who has sold about 300 million records worldwide in a career spanning over five decades, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She was known as Nána to her friends and...
album also featured her singing Vangelis composition "Ti Amerò". Collaboration numbers with lyricist Mikalis Bourboulis sung by Maria Farantouri included the tracks "Odi A", "San Elektra", and "Tora Xero".
The main theme for Chariots of Fire was also chosen by Apple's co-founder Steven P. Jobs for public introduction of Macintosh computer.
Blade Runner
In 1982, Vangelis collaborated with director Ridley ScottRidley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...
, to write the score for the science fiction film Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
. Capturing the isolation and melancholy of Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford
Harrison Ford is an American film actor and producer. He is famous for his performances as Han Solo in the original Star Wars trilogy and as the title character of the Indiana Jones film series. Ford is also known for his roles as Rick Deckard in Blade Runner, John Book in Witness and Jack Ryan in...
's character,
Rick Deckard, the Vangelis score is as much a part of the dystopian environment as the decaying buildings and ever-present rain.
A disagreement led to Vangelis withholding permission for his performance of the music from Blade Runner to be released, and the studio instead hired a group of musicians dubbed "The New American Orchestra" to record the official LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
released at the time. It took 12 years before the disagreement was resolved and Vangelis's own work was released in the United States, in 1994. The soundtrack was still incomplete, as the film contained some non-Vangelis tracks as well. Over the years a series of bootleg recordings of Blade Runner soundtrack from unknown sources have been released, mostly targeted to collectors as "private releases", that contain most of the music cues (including the Ladd Company logo theme). A three disc box set was released in late 2007 containing the 1994 album, a second disc containing some more of the missing music cues and a third disc of new Vangelis material inspired by Blade Runner. The 2007 release still lacks some incidental music, most notably the background music from the Taffey Lewis bar scene featuring vocals by Demis Roussos
Demis Roussos
Artemios Ventouris Roussos is a Greek singer and performer, best known for being the main musical partner of movie soundtrack composer Vangelis and a string of international hit records as a solo performer in the 1960s and 1970s...
.
1492: Conquest of Paradise
In 1992, Paramount PicturesParamount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
released the film 1492: Conquest of Paradise
1492: Conquest of Paradise
1492: Conquest of Paradise is an epic 1992 European adventure/drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by Roselyne Bosch, which tells the story of the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus and the effect this had on the indigenous people...
, also directed by Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott
Sir Ridley Scott is an English film director and producer. His most famous films include The Duellists , Alien , Blade Runner , Legend , Thelma & Louise , G. I...
, as a 500th anniversary commemoration of Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an explorer, colonizer, and navigator, born in the Republic of Genoa, in northwestern Italy. Under the auspices of the Catholic Monarchs of Spain, he completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that led to general European awareness of the American continents in the...
' voyage to the New World. Vangelis's score was nominated as "Best Original Score – Motion Picture" at the 1993 Golden Globe awards, but was not nominated for an Academy Award.
Other works
In 1983 Vangelis wrote the music for Michael Cacoyannis' staging of the Greek tragedyTragedy
Tragedy is a form of art based on human suffering that offers its audience pleasure. While most cultures have developed forms that provoke this paradoxical response, tragedy refers to a specific tradition of drama that has played a unique and important role historically in the self-definition of...
Elektra
Electra (Euripides)
Euripides' Electra was a play probably written in the mid 410s BC, likely after 413 BC. It is unclear whether it was first produced before or after Sophocles' version of the Electra story.-Background:...
which was performed featuring Irene Papas
Irene Papas
Irene Papas is a Greek actress and occasional singer, who has starred in over seventy films in a career spanning more than fifty years.-Life:...
at the open-air amphitheater at Epidavros in Greece. The same year Vangelis composed his first score for a ballet by Wayne Eagling
Wayne Eagling
Wayne Eagling is a former Principal dancer of the Royal Ballet in London and is a leading international choreographer and director....
. It was originally performed by Lesley Colier and Wayne Eagling himself at an Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
gala in Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
, but in 1984 the Royal Ballet School
Royal Ballet School
The Royal Ballet School is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the Royal Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Royal Opera House in London...
presented it again at the Sadler's Wells theater. In 1985 and 1986, Vangelis wrote music for two more ballets: "Frankenstein – Modern Prometheus" and "The Beauty and the Beast". In 1992, Vangelis wrote the music for the Euripides
Euripides
Euripides was one of the three great tragedians of classical Athens, the other two being Aeschylus and Sophocles. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to him but according to the Suda it was ninety-two at most...
play, Medea
Medea (play)
Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 BC. The plot centers on the barbarian protagonist as she finds her position in the Greek world threatened, and the revenge she takes against her husband Jason who has betrayed...
, that featured Irene Papas
Irene Papas
Irene Papas is a Greek actress and occasional singer, who has starred in over seventy films in a career spanning more than fifty years.-Life:...
. In the 90's, Vangelis scored a number of undersea documentaries for French ecologist and filmmaker, Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau
Jacques-Yves Cousteau was a French naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water...
.
During 1980, six years after Vangelis decided against joining Yes
Yes (band)
Yes are an English rock band who achieved worldwide success with their progressive, art, and symphonic style of rock music. Regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre, Yes are known for their lengthy songs, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, and live stage sets...
, he and Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson
Jon Anderson is an English singer-songwriter and musician best known as the former lead vocalist in the progressive rock band Yes...
, the lead singer of Yes, released their first album together, Short Stories, under the band name of Jon & Vangelis. They would eventually go on to release three more afterwards; The Friends of Mr. Cairo
The Friends of Mr. Cairo
The Friends of Mr Cairo is the second album by Jon and Vangelis.There are two editions of this album, with different sleeves. Both versions were released in 1981 within a few weeks of each other. The title track, "The Friends Of Mr Cairo", peaked at #1 for 5 consecutive weeks on the Canadian...
, Private Collection and Page of Life
Page of Life
Page of Life is the fourth studio album by Jon and Vangelis. It was released in 1991 by Higher Octave, and is, as of 2011, their last studio collaboration as a duo...
released in 1981, 1983, and 1991 respectively.
Olympic Games
In May 2000, Vangelis composed the music as well as designed and directed the artistic Olympic flag relay portion of the Closing Ceremonies of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. While no official recording of Vangelis' composition for the 2000 Sydney Games exists, the music can be heard accompanying the presentation of the emblem of the 2004 Athens Games.2000s
Mythodea
Mythodea: Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey is a choral symphony by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. Originally premiered in concert in 1993, it was published in 2001 by Vangelis' new record label Sony Classical, which also set up the NASA connection and promoted a new...
, a predominantly orchestral rather than electronic piece that was originally written in 1993, and used by NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
as the theme for the Mars Odyssey
2001 Mars Odyssey
2001 Mars Odyssey is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectrometers and electronic imagers to hunt for evidence of past or...
mission in 2001. A year later, in 2002, Vangelis created the 2002 FIFA World Cup Official Anthem for the 2002 World Cup
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup was the 17th staging of the FIFA World Cup, held in South Korea and Japan from 31 May to 30 June. It was also the first World Cup held in Asia, and the last in which the golden goal rule was implemented. Brazil won the tournament for a record fifth time, beating Germany 2–0...
.
In 2004, Vangelis released the score for Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
's Alexander
Alexander (album)
The original film score of Alexander was composed by Vangelis and released on audio CD.The film, directed by Oliver Stone, portrays the life of Alexander the Great in an epic style that is also reflected in the score...
, continuing his involvement with projects related to Greece. Vangelis released 2 albums in 2007; the first was a 3 CD set for the 25th Anniversary of Blade Runner, titled Blade Runner Trilogy and second was the soundtrack for the Greek movie, El Greco, titled El Greco Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
El Greco Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
El Greco Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is an audio CD featuring the music score for the 2007 film El Greco, by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis, released in Greece and Cyprus by Universal Music Greece...
.
Personal life
For an artist of his stature, very little is known about Vangelis' personal life and he rarely gives official interviews to journalists. However, in a 2005 interview with The Telegraph, Vangelis talked openly about various parts of his life. He stated in the interview that he was "never interested" in the "decadent lifestyle" of his band days, choosing not to take drugs or drink alcoholAlcoholic beverage
An alcoholic beverage is a drink containing ethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers, wines, and spirits. They are legally consumed in most countries, and over 100 countries have laws regulating their production, sale, and consumption...
. At the time of the Telegraph interview, Vangelis was involved in his third long-term relationship. When asked why he had not had children, Vangelis replied:
...Because of the amount of travelling I do and the nonsense of the music business, I couldn't take care of a child in the way I think it should be taken care of.It is not known where Vangelis generally resides; he has stated that he "travels around", rather than settling down in one specific place or country for long periods of time. As a hobby, Vangelis enjoys painting; his first art exhibition toured South America in 2005.
Excerpts from other interviews mention that Vangelis has been married twice before. In a 1976 interview with Dutch music magazine Oor, the author wrote that Vangelis had a wife named Veronique Skawinska who was a photographer who had done some album art work for Vangelis. An interview
Interview
An interview is a conversation between two people where questions are asked by the interviewer to obtain information from the interviewee.- Interview as a Method for Qualitative Research:"Definition" -...
in 1982 with Backstage music magazine suggests that Vangelis had previously been married to a singer named Vana Verouti, who had performed vocals on some of his records, performing for the first time with him on La Fête sauvage
La Fête Sauvage
La Fête sauvage is an original score album, by Greek composer Vangelis , from the 1975 documentary, about animal wildlife, by Frédéric Rossif.-Overview:...
and later on Heaven and Hell
Heaven and Hell (Vangelis album)
Heaven and Hell, released in 1975, is the fifth solo album by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. It got worldwide recognition through the use of "Movement 3" as the theme for the television documentary series Cosmos....
.
Musical style and compositional process
As a musician, Vangelis relies heavily on synthesizers and other electronic approaches to music. Synthtopia, an electronic music review website, stated that Vangelis' music could be referred to as "symphonic electronica" because of his use of synthesizers in an orchestral fashion. The aforementioned review site went on to describe his music as melodic: "drawing on the melodies of folk musicFolk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, especially the Greek music of his homeland." Vangelis' music and compositions have also been described as "...a distinctive sound with simple, repetitive yet memorable tunes against evocative rhythms and chord progressions." He often used vibrato
Vibrato
Vibrato is a musical effect consisting of a regular, pulsating change of pitch. It is used to add expression to vocal and instrumental music. Vibrato is typically characterised in terms of two factors: the amount of pitch variation and the speed with which the pitch is varied .-Vibrato and...
on his synthesizers, which was carried out in a distinctive way on his Yamaha CS80 polyphonic synthesizer; varying the pressure exerted on the key to produce the expressive vibrato sound.
In an interview with Soundtrack, a music and film website, Vangelis talked about his compositional processes. For films, Vangelis stated that he would begin composing a score for a feature as soon as he sees a rough cut of the footage. In addition to working with synthesizers and other electronically based instruments, Vangelis also works with and is a conductor to orchestras. For example, in the Oliver Stone
Oliver Stone
William Oliver Stone is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Stone became well known in the late 1980s and the early 1990s for directing a series of films about the Vietnam War, for which he had previously participated as an infantry soldier. His work frequently focuses on...
film Alexander
Alexander (film)
Alexander is a 2004 epic film based on the life of Alexander the Great. It is not a remake of the 1956 film which starred Richard Burton. It was directed by Oliver Stone, with Colin Farrell in the title role...
, Vangelis conducted an orchestra that consisted of various classical instruments including sitars, percussion, finger cymbals, harps and duduk
Duduk
The duduk , traditionally known since antiquity as a Ծիրանափող is a traditional woodwind instrument indigenous to Armenia. Variations of it are popular in the Middle East and Central Asia...
s.
Vangelis uses a technique of recording all tracks simultaneously
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
on tape, using a Zyklus MIDI Performance System. The album Direct is named after the successor to the Zyklus which was being specially manufactured for him by the Zyklus MPS designers, Bill Marshall, Pete Kellock and Mike Crisp.
He explains his customary method of approach. As soon as the musical idea is there, as many keyboards as possible are connected to the control-desk, which in turn are directly connected to the applicable tracks of the multi-trackmachine. The idea now is to play as many keyboards as possible at the same time. That way as broad a basis as possible develops which only needs fine-tuning. After that it's a question of adding things or leaving out things."
Honours and legacy
France made Vangelis a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1992. In 1995, Vangelis had a minor planetMinor planet
An asteroid group or minor-planet group is a population of minor planets that have a share broadly similar orbits. Members are generally unrelated to each other, unlike in an asteroid family, which often results from the break-up of a single asteroid...
named after him (6354 Vangelis
6354 Vangelis
6354 Vangelis is a main-belt asteroid discovered on April 3, 1934 by Eugène Delporte at Uccle. The planet bears the namesake of composer / musician, Vangelis.- External links :**...
) by the International Astronomical Union
International Astronomical Union
The International Astronomical Union IAU is a collection of professional astronomers, at the Ph.D. level and beyond, active in professional research and education in astronomy...
's Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory
The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory is a research institute of the Smithsonian Institution headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where it is joined with the Harvard College Observatory to form the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics .-History:The SAO was founded in 1890 by...
; the name was proposed by the MPC's co-director, Gareth V. Williams, rather than by the object's original discoverer, Eugène Joseph Delporte
Eugène Joseph Delporte
Eugène Joseph Delporte was a Belgian astronomer.-Discoveries:He discovered a total of sixty-six asteroids. Notable discoveries include 1221 Amor and the Apollo asteroid 2101 Adonis. He discovered or co-discovered some comets as well, including periodic comet 57P/du Toit-Neujmin-Delporte...
, who died in 1955, long before the 1934 discovery could be confirmed by observations made in 1990. NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
conferred their Public Service Medal to Vangelis in 2003. The award is the highest honour the space agency presents to an individual not involved with the American government. Five years later, in 2008, the board of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
National and Kapodistrian University of Athens
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens , usually referred to simply as the University of Athens, is the oldest university in Southeast Europe and has been in continuous operation since its establishment in 1837. Today, it is the second-largest institution of higher learning in Greece,...
voted to make Vangelis an Honorary Doctor, making him Professor Emeritus at their Faculty of Primary Education. In June 2008, the American Hellenic Institute honoured Vangelis with an AHI Hellenic Heritage Achievement Award for his "exceptional artistic achievements" as a pioneer in electronic music and for his lifelong dedication to the promotion of Hellenism
Hellenization
Hellenization is a term used to describe the spread of ancient Greek culture, and, to a lesser extent, language. It is mainly used to describe the spread of Hellenistic civilization during the Hellenistic period following the campaigns of Alexander the Great of Macedon...
through the arts.
AFI
The American Film InstituteAmerican Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
nominated Vangelis' scores for Blade Runner
Blade Runner
Blade Runner is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, and Sean Young. The screenplay, written by Hampton Fancher and David Peoples, is loosely based on the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K...
and Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 British film. It tells the fact-based story of two athletes in the 1924 Olympics: Eric Liddell, a devout Scottish Christian who runs for the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams, an English Jew who runs to overcome prejudice....
for their list of the 250 greatest film scores
AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores is a list of the top 25 film scores in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute in 2005.-The List:-External links:**...
.
Discography
- (1970) Sex PowerSex Power (album)Sex Power is Vangelis' debut film score album. Originally released on LP in 1970 and never having been made available on CD, the album is currently out-of-print. Existing vinyl copies are regarded as rare collector's items....
- (1972) Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuitFais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit (album)Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit is an album by Vangelis Papathanassiou. Released in 1972, the entire theme of the record focuses on the May 1968 protest taking place in France.-Track listing:...
- (1973) Earth
- (1973) L'Apocalypse Des AnimauxL'Apocalypse des Animaux (album)L'Apocalypse des animaux is a soundtrack album by Greek composer Vangelis. The album's music accompanied a documentary series about the animal kingdom directed by Frédéric Rossif that was first broadcasted on French TV in 1970.-Track listing:...
- (1975) Heaven and HellHeaven and Hell (Vangelis album)Heaven and Hell, released in 1975, is the fifth solo album by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. It got worldwide recognition through the use of "Movement 3" as the theme for the television documentary series Cosmos....
- (1976) Albedo 0.39Albedo 0.39Albedo 0.39 is an album by the artist Vangelis, released in 1976. It is a concept album around space and space physics.Albedo 0.39 was the second album produced by Vangelis in Nemo Studios, London, which was his creative base until the late 1980s...
- (1976) La Fête sauvageLa Fête SauvageLa Fête sauvage is an original score album, by Greek composer Vangelis , from the 1975 documentary, about animal wildlife, by Frédéric Rossif.-Overview:...
- (1977) IgnacioDo You Hear the Dogs Barking?Do You Hear the Dogs Barking? is a 1975 Mexican drama film directed by François Reichenbach. It was entered into the 1975 Cannes Film Festival....
- (1977) Spiral
- (1978) BeaubourgBeaubourg (album)Beaubourg is a 1978 album by the Greek artist Vangelis. It is entirely synthesizer-based and highly experimental; together with Hypothesis it is often considered to be one of Vangelis' least accessible works...
- (1978) Odes (Vangelis & Irene Papas album)Odes (album)Odes is the title of an album of Greek folk songs by Irene Papas and Vangelis. All of the songs are traditional, except two which are original compositions by Vangelis. Recorded in Nemo studios, London 1979, the entirety of the album is performed and produced by Vangelis, with the addition of a...
- (1979) ChinaChina (album)China is a 1979 album by the Greek artist Vangelis. Although he had never been to China, he employed Chinese instruments and compositional styles on this concept album.- Track listing :# "Chung Kuo" – 5:31# "The Long March" – 2:01...
- (1979) Opera SauvageOpera SauvageOpéra sauvage is a 1979 album, by Greek composer and artist Vangelis, of the score for the nature documentary by the same title by French filmmaker Frédéric Rossif. The album sleeve design is by Vangelis himself....
- (1980) Short StoriesShort Stories (Jon & Vangelis album)Short Stories is the debut album by Jon and Vangelis, the collaborative effort between Jon Anderson of the prog rock band Yes and electronic music pioneer Evangelos Papathanassiou. Although this was not the first time that the two had worked together; Vangelis had auditioned to be Rick Wakeman's...
(Jon & Vangelis) - (1980) See You LaterSee You LaterSee You Later is a 1980 album by the Greek artist Vangelis. It breaks quite violently with the style he had employed in the late 1970s, relying much more on vocals and being more experimental and returning to his early 1970s work....
- (1981) Chariots of FireChariots of Fire (album)Chariots of Fire is a 1981 musical score by Greek electronic composer Vangelis for the British film Chariots of Fire, which won four Academy Awards including Best Picture and Original Music Score....
- (1981) The Friends of Mr Cairo (Jon & Vangelis)
- (1983) AntarcticaAntarctica (Vangelis album)- Personnel :* Vangelis – arrangements, all instruments and producer* Raine Shine – engineer...
- (1983) Private Collection (Jon & Vangelis)
- (1984) Soil FestivitiesSoil Festivities (album)Soil Festivities is a 1984 album by the Greek artist Vangelis.- Track listing :All songs written by Vangelis.# "Movement 1" – 18:20# "Movement 2" – 6:20# "Movement 3" – 6:06# "Movement 4" – 9:54# "Movement 5" – 7:20-Overview:...
- (1985) Mask
- (1985) Invisible ConnectionsInvisible ConnectionsInvisible Connections is a 1985 album by electronic/new age musician Vangelis.-Track listing:All songs written by Vangelis.# "Invisible Connections" – 18:30# "Atom Blaster" – 7:50# "Thermo Vision" – 13:19-Overview:...
- (1986) Vangelis & Irene Papas – Rapsodies
- (1988) Direct
- (1989) Themes
- (1990) The City
- (1991) Page of LifePage of LifePage of Life is the fourth studio album by Jon and Vangelis. It was released in 1991 by Higher Octave, and is, as of 2011, their last studio collaboration as a duo...
(Jon & Vangelis) - (1992) Conquest of Paradise
- (1995) VoicesVoices (Vangelis album)Voices is a 1995 album by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis.Its music was used in the soundtrack for the 1998 documentary Deep Seas, Deep Secrets co-produced by The Learning Channel and Discovery Channel, together with music from Vangelis next album, Oceanic.The track "Ask the...
- (1995) Vangelis & Stina NordenstamStina NordenstamStina Nordenstam is a singer, songwriter and musician.-Career:Nordenstam's voice led to early comparisons with artists such as Rickie Lee Jones and Björk. Her early albums, Memories of a Colour and And She Closed Her Eyes were jazz-influenced with elements of alternative rock...
– Ask the Mountains - (1995) Foros Timis Ston GrecoForos Timis Ston GrecoForos Timis Ston Greco is a classical album by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis...
- (1996) Portraits (So Long Ago, So Clear)Portraits (So Long Ago, So Clear)Portraits is a 1996 compilation album of works by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis.The album features some of the most-renowned Vangelis' solo work, as well as songs from Jon & Vangelis, his collaboration with Yes vocalist Jon Anderson.-Chart performance:The album won gold sales...
- (1996) OceanicOceanic (Vangelis album)Oceanic is a 1996 album by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. It was released in Europe on October 25, 1996, and in the U.S. on January 1997. A single featuring track "Song of the Seas" was released simultaneously....
- (1998) Reprise 1990–1999
- (1998) El GrecoEl Greco (album)El Greco is a 1998 classical album by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis . The title is an a reference to the man who inspired the composition, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος , the Cretan-born painter and sculptor better known as El Greco.This album is an expansion of an earlier album by...
- (2001) Mythodea: Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars OdysseyMythodeaMythodea: Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey is a choral symphony by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. Originally premiered in concert in 1993, it was published in 2001 by Vangelis' new record label Sony Classical, which also set up the NASA connection and promoted a new...
- (2003) Odyssey: The Definitive CollectionOdyssey: The Definitive CollectionOdyssey: The Definitive Collection is a 2003 compilation album of works by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. It includes two unreleased tracks, being the opening theme from Cavafy, and a new composition called "Celtic Dawn"...
- (2004) AlexanderAlexander (album)The original film score of Alexander was composed by Vangelis and released on audio CD.The film, directed by Oliver Stone, portrays the life of Alexander the Great in an epic style that is also reflected in the score...
- (2007) El Greco (soundtrack)
- (2007) Blade Runner Trilogy: 25th Anniversary (3 CD)
See also
- 20th century classical music20th century classical music20th century classical music was without a dominant style and highly diverse.-Introduction:At the turn of the century, music was characteristically late Romantic in style. Composers such as Gustav Mahler and Jean Sibelius were pushing the bounds of Post-Romantic Symphonic writing...
- Aphrodite's ChildAphrodite's ChildAphrodite's Child was a Greek progressive rock band formed in 1967, by Vangelis Papathanassiou , Demis Roussos , Loukas Sideras , and Anargyros "Silver" Koulouris . Their band's name was derived from the title of a track from another Mercury act, Dick Campbell, from his Sings Where It's At album...
- Electronic musicElectronic musicElectronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
- Jon & Vangelis