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Vangelis (b. 29 March 1943, d. 17 May 2022) was a Greek musician, composer, and producer. He began his music career in the 1960s with the Greek progressive rock band Aphrodite's Child and in the 1970s began composing electronic music. He gained wide mainstream popularity after composing soundtracks to the films Chariots of Fire (1981) and Blade Runner (1982). [1] His solo career discography consists of 23 studio albums, 26 compilation albums, 12 soundtrack albums, and roughly 29 singles. The majority of his film, documentary, theatre, and ballet & dance scores were not released or officially released. He also collaborated with Jon Anderson and as a duo, Jon and Vangelis, released 4 studio albums, 2 compilations, and 13 singles, and with Irene Papas released two studio albums.
His solo studio album Heaven and Hell (1975) was his UK chart debut (#31), while Albedo 0.39 (1976) his first top 20 album. His best selling studio albums are China (1979), certified silver for selling over 60,000 copies by BPI, Voices (1995) selling almost 300,000 certified copies in Germany and Austria, and Mythodea (2001) certified platinum in Greece and silver in Portugal. His compilation albums also had good sales, with Themes (1989) selling over 445,000 copies, Portraits (So Long Ago, So Clear) (1996) selling over a million copies in Europe, and Odyssey: The Definitive Collection (2003) over 110,000 copies. His best selling soundtracks are Opéra sauvage (1979) which reached #42 on the Billboard 200 and stayed in the charts for 39 weeks, Chariots of Fire (1981) which topped the Billboard 200 for 4 weeks and sold 2 million copies worldwide, Blade Runner (1994) which sold over 250,000 copies, 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992) which topped the charts in Europe and sold 3 million copies worldwide, and Alexander (2004) which was certified platinum in Hungary.
His solo single "Chariots of Fire" in 1982 topped the Billboard Hot 100, "Conquest of Paradise" (1992) topped the charts in Europe and sold over 1.6 million copies, and "Anthem", the theme music for the 2002 FIFA World Cup reached the top 5 in Japan and was certified platinum by RIAJ.
Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
AUT | FRA | GER | ITA | NLD [2] | SWE | SWI [3] | UK [4] | US | |||||
1972 | Fais que ton rêve soit plus long que la nuit (lit. "Make Your Dream Last Longer Than the Night") | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
1973 | Earth | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
1975 | Heaven and Hell
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 31 | 204 | |||
1976 | Albedo 0.39
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 18 | — | |||
1977 | Spiral | — | — | — | — | 38 | — | — | — | — | |||
1978 | Beaubourg
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
1979 | China | — | — | — | — | 31 | — | — | — | — | |||
1980 | See You Later | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
1984 | Soil Festivities | — | — | — | — | 45 | — | — | 55 | — | |||
1985 | Mask | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 69 | — | |||
1985 | Invisible Connections
| — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
1988 | Direct | — | — | — | — | — | 33 | — | — | — | |||
1990 | The City | — | — | — | — | 82 | — | — | — | — | |||
1995 | Voices | 6 | — | 24 | — | 36 | 50 | 31 | 58 | — | |||
1996 | Oceanic | 22 | 29 | 87 | — | 98 | 60 | 37 | — | — | |||
1998 | El Greco | — | 66 | 74 | — | — | — | — | 159 | — | |||
2001 | Mythodea: Music for the NASA Mission: 2001 Mars Odyssey
| — | — | 46 | 39 | — | — | 75 | — | — | |||
2016 | Rosetta | 58 [5] | 31 [6] | 55 | 30 [7] | 33 | — | 29 | 40 | — | |||
2019 | Nocturne: The Piano Album
| — | 141 | — | — | 116 | — | 33 | — | — | |||
2021 | Juno to Jupiter
| — | — | — | — | 31 | — | 21 | — | — | |||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or receive certification. |
Strictly not bootleg recordings as they appeared on a label, but they were released without Vangelis' permission and were later withdrawn from the market.
Year | Title | Peak chart positions [8] | Album | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
UK [4] | NLD [9] | JPN [10] | |||
1970 | "Djemilla" [upper-alpha 2] | — | — | — | Sex Power - soundtrack |
1973 | "Come On" [upper-alpha 3] | — | — | — | Earth |
1976 | "Pulstar" | — | — | — | Albedo 0.39 |
"Thème D'Amour" [upper-alpha 4] | — | — | — | La Fête sauvage | |
1977 | "Ignacio - Part I" [upper-alpha 5] | — | — | — | Ignacio |
"To the Unknown Man" | — | 38 | — | Spiral | |
"Dervish D" [upper-alpha 6] | — | — | — | ||
1979 | "The Long March" | — | — | — | China |
"The Tao of Love" [upper-alpha 7] | — | — | — | ||
"Hymne" [upper-alpha 8] | — | — | — | Opéra sauvage | |
"L'Enfant" [upper-alpha 9] | — | — | — | ||
1980 | "Don't Be Foolish" | — | — | — | See You Later |
"My Love" | — | — | — | ||
1981 | "Not a Bit - All of It" [upper-alpha 10] | — | — | — | |
"Chariots of Fire - Titles" [upper-alpha 11] | 12 | 17 | 55 | Chariots of Fire | |
"Heaven and Hell: 3rd Movement" [upper-alpha 12] | 48 | — | — | Heaven And Hell | |
1982 | "Blade Runner - End Title" | — | — | — | Blade Runner |
1983 | "Theme from Antarctica" [upper-alpha 13] | — | — | 66 | Antarctica |
1988 | "The Will of the Wind" | — | — | — | Direct |
1989 | "Missing" [upper-alpha 14] | — | — | — | Themes |
1992 | "Conquest of Paradise" [upper-alpha 15] | 60 | 1 | — | 1492: Conquest of Paradise (album) |
1993 | "Twenty Eighth Parallel" [upper-alpha 16] | — | — | — | |
1995 | "Voices" | — | — | — | Voices |
1996 | "Ask the Mountains" | 77 | — | — | |
"Sauvage et Beau" | — | — | — | Portraits | |
"Song of the Seas" | — | — | — | Oceanic | |
1997 | "March with Me" [upper-alpha 17] | — | — | — | |
2001 | "Mythodea" | — | — | — | |
2002 | "Anthem - 2002 FIFA World Cup Official Anthem" | 98 | — | 5 | |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |
Film scores
| Documentary scores
|
Theatre music
| Ballet & dance music
|
Chariots of Fire is a 1981 historical sports drama film directed by Hugh Hudson, written by Colin Welland and produced by David Puttnam. It is based on the true story of two British 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. Ben Cross and Ian Charleson star as Abrahams and Liddell, alongside Nigel Havers, Ian Holm, John Gielgud, Lindsay Anderson, Cheryl Campbell, Alice Krige, Brad Davis and Dennis Christopher in supporting roles. Kenneth Branagh and Stephen Fry make their debuts in minor roles.
Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou, known professionally as Vangelis, was a Greek musician, composer, and producer of electronic, progressive, ambient, and classical orchestral music. He composed the Academy Award-winning score to Chariots of Fire (1981), as well as for the films Blade Runner (1982), Missing (1982), Antarctica (1983), The Bounty (1984), 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), and Alexander (2004), and the 1980 PBS documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage by Carl Sagan.
Aphrodite's Child was a Greek rock and pop band formed in 1967, by Evangelos Papathanassiou, later known professionally as Vangelis,, Demis Roussos, Loukas Sideras, and Silver Koulouris (guitar). They initially found success in Europe with hit singles like "Rain and Tears", "End of the World", "I Want to Live", and "It's Five O'Clock", before pivoting to progressive rock with their third and final album, 666 (1972). An ambitious concept album inspired by the Book of Revelation, it later gained critical acclaim and has appeared on a number of lists of the top progressive and psychedelic albums of all time.
Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member, he is best remembered for his work in the progressive rock music act Aphrodite's Child, but as a vocal soloist, his repertoire included hit songs like "Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye", "From Souvenirs to Souvenirs" and "Forever and Ever".
Jon and Vangelis was a music collaboration between British rock singer Jon Anderson and Greek synthesiser musician Vangelis. The duo released four albums between 1980 and 1991.
1492: Conquest of Paradise is a 1992 music score to the film of the same name by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis. The film, a recount of the voyage to America in 1492 by Christopher Columbus, was directed by Ridley Scott, for whom Vangelis had previously composed the music score for Blade Runner, in 1982. The album and the single "Conquest of Paradise" enjoyed a revival in 1995 for various reasons and broke many sales records.
Opéra Sauvage is a soundtrack album by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in 1979. It is the score for the nature documentary of the same title by French filmmaker Frédéric Rossif. It is considered one of Vangelis' best albums and is his second most successful album in the USA, reaching #42 in the album charts.
China is a studio album by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in April 1979. Although he had never been to China, he employed Chinese instruments and compositional styles on this concept album. The album received some critical praise. It was certified silver (1985) for sales of over 60,000 copies by BPI.
See You Later is an album by the Greek electronic composer Vangelis, released in November 1980. It breaks quite violently with the style he employed in the late 1970s and later, relying much more on vocals and being more experimental and returning to his early 1970s work like Earth or 666. It was never released in the United States, until it was remastered in 2016 as part of the Delectus boxset.
666 is the third and final studio album and only double album by Greek progressive rock band Aphrodite's Child, released in June 1972 by Vertigo Records. An ambitious double-LP concept album, ostensibly an adaptation of Biblical passages from the Book of Revelation, 666 was composed by keyboardist Vangelis and lyricist Costas Ferris.
Themes is a compilation album of works by Greek electronic composer and artist Vangelis released in July 1989. It featured some previously released tracks from Vangelis's other albums, as well as some pieces from movie soundtracks that had not previously been released.
Blade Runner: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack is the soundtrack for Ridley Scott's 1982 science-fiction noir film Blade Runner, composed by Greek electronic musician Vangelis. It has received acclaim as an influential work in the history of electronic music and one of Vangelis's best works. It was nominated in 1983 for a BAFTA and Golden Globe for best original score. The score evokes the film's bleak futurism with an emotive synthesizer-based sound, drawing on the jazz scores of classic film noir as well as Middle Eastern texture and neo-classical elements.
Frederick Rousseau is a New Age instrumentalist. His musical research is based on electronic sounds that he mixes with ethnic instruments, classical orchestras, and vocals.
Krisma, originally known as Chrisma, was an Italian new wave/electronic music duo founded by Maurizio Arcieri (1942–2015) and Christina Moser (1952–2022) in 1976.
"Chariots of Fire" is an instrumental theme written and recorded by Vangelis for the soundtrack of the 1981 film of the same name. It has been covered by numerous performers and used for various television programs and sporting events.
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.
La Fête sauvage is an original score album by Greek composer Vangelis, from the 1975 documentary about animal wildlife La Fête Sauvage, by Frédéric Rossif.
I'll Find My Way Home is a song written by Jon Anderson and Vangelis. It was included on the second edition of Jon and Vangelis' 1981 album The Friends of Mr Cairo.
The albums discography of American singer Janet Jackson consists of eleven studio albums, four compilation albums, and two remix albums. When she was fifteen, her father arranged a contract for her with A&M Records. Her debut album, Janet Jackson (1982), peaked at number 64 on the Billboard 200 chart and sold 250,000 copies in the United States. Her next album, Dream Street (1984), peaked at number 147 on the Billboard 200, a weaker effort than her previous album. Her third album, Control (1986), became known as her breakthrough album, topping the Billboard 200 and sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Her fourth album, Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989), topped the Billboard 200 for four consecutive weeks and sold three million copies within the first four months of its release. The album went on to produce seven consecutive top 5 hits, four of them reaching the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in three separate calendar years, a record yet to be broken. The album was certified 6× Platinum by RIAA, and sold over 12 million copies worldwide.