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Vangelis
Origin: March 29th, 1943 in Greece
Official webpage: http://www.vangelisworld.com/
The musical talents of Vangelis first became obvious at the age of four. His parents tried to encourage him to study with a professional teacher, but he did not respond well to formal education as he was generally unwilling to follow instructions.
Vangelis explains, "I have always felt that you should not borrow knowledge from others, because personal experience and development are of utmost significance."
After leaving school he and some friends formed a group called Formynx. In the early 60s this band packed Greek stadiums with thousands of music hungry fans. Vangelis was virually the first artist that brought pop music to his home country. Formynx was soon Greece's most popular musical group.
During the Greek upheaval in 1968 Vangelis moved to Paris. Together with Demis Roussos and Loukas Sideras he formed a band called Aphrodite's Child. This group scored an immediate world wide hit with their first release, Rain and Tears. Aphrodite's Child went on to release several further European number-one singles over the course of three years. The band split up after their controversial double album 666. Vangelis remained in Paris for a while, recording a couple of film soundtracks for the French director Frederic Rossif (among these L'Apocalypse Des Animaux and La Fete Sauvage) and giving an amazing performance at the "Olympia" to promote his first solo album, Earth, on the Philips label.
In 1974 he moved to London in the midst of a storm of rumors that he would be joining the group Yes as Rick Wakemen's replacement on keyboards. After rehearsing with Yes for several weeks Vangelis left, explaining that his musical theory and directions and the group's were too far apart. It was during his stint with Yes that he and Jon Anderson became friends and collaborators.
Vangelis soon signed a recording contract with RCA, and assembled his own 24 track studio known as Nemo Studios. Nemo Studios is near London's Marble Arch, and is referred to by Vangelis as his laboratory. The first album cut here was Heaven and Hell. This first album on the RCA label, a collection of extraordinary and forceful music, catapulted him to the forefront of popular music in Europe and the United States. To this date, all albums that followed Heaven and Hell were equally internationally acclaimed and enormous sellers. Vangelis achieved an array of awards, among them an Oscar in 1982 for the soundtrack of the film Chariots of Fire.
Albums
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Eight comments
heroic665 29 December, 2006 at 03:12
Not a pratciularly big fan. SUre, he has some good songs and has a unique sound, but a synthsizer will NEVER beat a symphony. Is overreliance on them when he has the resources to use an orchestra annoys me.
Eloren 2 November, 2006 at 06:30
Nothing to be said about Vangelis. They are one of the best bands making soundtracks I know since i am a young kid.
ek79 8 July, 2006 at 17:15
Just perfect!
Tempest Stormwind 27 June, 2006 at 09:18
Magical. There truly is no other word that can capture the essence of Vangelis' music than this.
Asgard 1 April, 2006 at 23:00
the best players for electronic musik .....
Sir Daniel of Bedford 20 January, 2006 at 21:33
One of my primary musical influences, Vangelis is the epitomy of a versitile soundtrack composer!
Goldey 27 November, 2005 at 05:25
I adore most anything that Vangelis writes! He is a master musician and composer.
Orgaloth 21 August, 2003 at 13:32
Vangelis is much more than a soundtrack composer, he has also produced several solo albums and much more (see his biography above). As far as his career as a filmmusic composer is concerned three movies instantly spring to mind: Blade Runner, Chariots of Fire and 1492. All these soundtracks are very good and definitely are original as soundtracks as they don't untilize an orchestra but instead syntesizers (well, 1492 does contain some choirs). However 1492 does stand in a class of its own with the unforgettable main theme.
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