RIP Vangelis

I found out Friday that composer Vangelis, of Chariots of Fire fame, died on May 17 in France.  He was 79 and the cause of death was heart failure.  Thank you, John of The Sound of One Hand Typing, for the information.

Vangelis, whose birth name was Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, was born in Greece and grew up in Athens.  He showed an interest in music at age four and started performing his own music at age six. 

He didn't do well at traditional music lessons as he wanted to experiment with music.

As a young man, the artist we know as Vangelis formed some bands and also scored some Greek movies.  He changed his name to Vangelis, meaning "angel that brings good news" and eventually moved out of Greece. His last album was released last year. 

I discovered that Vangelis did a lot more than Chariots of Fire - in fact he had 23 solo albums released during his lifetime and many other works in collaboration with others.

I want to bring you two songs from the 1981 Chariots of Fire soundtrack, which won an Academy Award for best original score and is beloved by millions.  First, the title song, from the opening scene. This song was originally was called "Titles".

Chariots of Fire.

The second song is  a hymn called Jerusalem.  That song, which closes out the movie,  will be instantly familiar to anyone who has ever lived in England.  The words come from a poem written in 1804 by William Blake, a poet and painter.  The music was written in 1916 by Sir Hubert Parry during World War I.

Here's the story of the song.

Another musical great has left us.  RIP. 

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