May 19, 2022
By Christine Ross
The Greece-born electronic composer who wrote the Academy Award-winning score for Chariots of Fire, and music for dozens of other movies including Blade Runner, documentaries and TV series, has died.
The composer professionally known as Vangelis was 79. He died in a French hospital this week.
Vangelis started playing the piano at age 4, although he claimed he never learned to read notes.
His big breakthrough came with the score for the 1981 film Chariots of Fire that told the story of two British runners in the 1920s.
His score received one of the four Academy Awards the film won.
It went to number one in the US, and later topped the UK’s classical singles chart in 2012 after being performed by Mr Bean at the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games.
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