On February 11, I posted about the 80th birthday of Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou. You know him better as Vangelis.
But it turns out I was misinformed. TODAY is the actual anniversary of Vangelis’ birth. You know, when he sprang fully-formed from the head of Zeus.
So you’ll forgive me, I hope, if I repeat the post, with some minor alterations. It’s not every day that we get to celebrate four-score Vangelis. At least I picked a new photo!
Vangelis, of course, achieved world fame with his ubiquitous music for “Chariots of Fire” in 1981. The score not only earned him an Academy Award, but its main theme shot to number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Chart. For anyone who was alive at the time and in possession of a radio, it was inescapable, and as a result much-parodied.
In 1982, he composed the score for another film with legs, Ridley Scott’s “Blade Runner.” Vangelis’ dreamy electronics perfectly complemented the dystopian visuals by Douglas Trumbull, a worn-out, high-tech future, after concept art of Syd Mead.
Earlier, he received wide exposure through the use of his music in the 1980 PBS television series “Cosmos.”
“Chariots of Fire” is ranked at 19 on the British Film Institute’s list of Top 100 British Films.
Happy birthday in the cosmos, Vangelis.
Vangelis, enjoying his morning regimen of smoking a cigarette over a cup of coffee while playing piano to footage of athletes wearing themselves out running on the beach
Rowan Atkinson playing it for Sir Simon Rattle
- You called it, Ridley.
8 hours of “Blade Runner” in the rain
PHOTO: Vangelis, Greek god of synthesizers
