Thursday 19 May 2022 06:25 PM Vangelis, the Greek composer of Chariots of Fire's legendary electronic theme ... trends now
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Vangelis, the legendary Greek composer and musician who was best known for his electronic theme song for Oscar-winning 'Chariots of Fire', has died at the age of 79.
According to the Athens News Agency, Vangelis, born Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou in 1943, his lawyers' office said he died on Tuesday 17 May but gave no cause of death.
The young Vangelis developed an early interest in music and experiments with sounds produced by banging pots and pans or fixing nails, glasses and other objects to the strings of his parents' piano.
He absorbed the tones of Greek folk songs and Orthodox Christian choral music, but he had no formal musical training, which he later said had helped save his sense of creativity.
After a start with local rock bands, Vangelis left for Paris at the age of 25, joining an exodus of young artists following a 1967 coup which installed a military junta in Greece.
As he found his feet away from home, he was
