We’ve learned the sad news today that Vangelis, the Greek composer who won an Academy Award back in 1982 for his music in the film Chariots of Fire, has passed away at 79.
In addition to Chariots of Fire, Vangelis notably provided the score for Ridley Scott’s Blade Runner, as well as films including The Bounty, Wonders of Life, Vampire in Venice, Bitter Moon, Alexander, and Twilight of Shadows. Vangelis’s music has also been memorably featured in countless movies and shows, including Netflix’s “Stranger Things” and the original Candyman.
The track “Fields of Coral” (listen below) was featured in “Stranger Things,” while “State of Independence” was featured on the soundtrack to Candyman in 1992.
Other films to feature Vangelis tracks include The Jackals, National Lampoon’s Vacation, Single White Female, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), Collateral, and Blade Runner 2049.
Deadline writes, talking specifically about Vangelis’s iconic Chariots of Fire theme, “Born Evangelos Odessey Papathanassiou in Greece, the composer and musician known worldwide simply as Vangelis, combined orchestral music, electronic synth sounds, jazz and ambient to create a then-new sound for the film that seemed to provide the musical equivalent of the ocean waves that crashed as the story’s Olympic runners sprinted down the beach.”
We’re saddened to hear the passing of one of the greatest film composers of all time, the legendary Vangelis.
“All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain…” pic.twitter.com/XBJ9mYdKVi
— Varèse Sarabande Records (@VareseSarabande) May 19, 2022
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