Cast and Crew Index
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Designation:
Soundtrack Composer
True Designation:
Vangelis, aka Evangelos Odyssey Papathanassiou
Incept Date:
29 Mar 1943
Incept Location:
Volos, Greece
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Vangelis is the creator of the Blade Runner
soundtrack. Unquestionably one of the finest soundtracks ever
created. During the 1960's, together with Demis Roussos and Lucas
Sideras, he formed the successful pop group "Aphrodite's Child",
that had a number of hits including "Rain And Tears" and "It's Five
O'Clock". Vangelis doubled as composer and keyboard
player.
Demis Roussos, who was the group's singer, also
performed the strange voice in the BR soundtrack "Tales of the
future" featured on the 1994 soundtrack release, and in the Offworld
& Gongo bootlegs.
In the early 70's the band broke up, and Vangelis
started a solo career, becoming a pioneer in the field of electronic
music in the process. His biggest success during the 70's was the
groundbreaking album "Heaven & Hell", which would go on to
provide the theme and part of the soundtrack of Carl Sagan's popular
science TV-series "Cosmos".
Vangelis then composed the soundtrack for Hugh Hudson's 1981 "Chariots of Fire", The
movie and the soundtrack worked well together and Vangelis would
eventually win an Oscar for "Best Original Score" the following year.
Following
his success with "Chariots of Fire", Vangelis was eventually named
as the composer for Blade Runner. Unfortunately the BR soundtrack
featuring Vangelis did not get released along with the movie in
1982. Instead, an orchestral version of the music was released in
which Vangelis took no part. Vangelis' involvement with Scott and
BR is still somewhat shrouded in mystery and there have been many
speculations as to why the soundtrack was delayed for so long. However
as no official explanation exists, the reason remains unknown. The
release of the original soundtrack would eventually take place in
1994, having then been delayed for 12 years!
Despite
the fact that work on BR may not have been trouble free for Vangelis,
he found himself working with Scott once again on the 1992 epic
"1492: Conquest Of Paradise". The soundtrack was to become Vangelis'
greatest ever commercial success and the opening theme became a
big hit in the European charts three years later when German Boxer
Henry Maske used it as his theme.
Besides
doing scores for films, Vangelis has continued to release albums
containing his breathtakingly beautiful music. His latest projects
include Mythodea, a composition celebrating NASA's 2001 Odyssey
Mars mission and the 2002 FIFA World Cup Official Anthem.
Fans of the Blade Runner music might think Vangelis
should have won the Oscar for it! Unfortunately this was one of many
Oscars that Blade Runner didn't get. The Oscar for original musical
score that year was won by John Williams for "E.T." But let us not
forget that Vangelis had just won the Oscar for his "Chariots of
Fire" soundtrack when Blade Runner was released.
Profile written by
Netrunner and Tyge
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