"Vangelis Papathanassiou is no longer with us.
The music world has lost the international artist Vangelis, the star of electronic sound ", writes Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Twitter.
In 1981, a whole world hummed on the leitmotif of the film "The Moment of Triumph".
The music of some British athletes who trained before the 1924 Olympics is one of the most famous film compositions of the 1980s and led to both an Oscar statuette and a Grammy nomination for Vangelis.
Flee the homeland
The music also climbed up as both album and single single on the US list and became the big breakthrough for Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou, who was born in Agria in 1943.
Vangelis began his career as a pop musician in his homeland but fled his homeland of Paris after the military junta took power in 1967 and formed with, among others, compatriot Demis Roussos the band Aphrodite's Child.
When the band split, he switched to electronic music for film, television and theater, a genre he is strongly associated with.
The music for Blade runner
The year after "The Moment of Triumph", the next success with futuristic music came to "Blade Runner", which was followed by "Lost" (also 1982), "The Bounty" (1984) and the Golden Globe-nominated music for "1492 - The Great Discovery ”(1992).
Over the years, the theater and various live projects took over and film assignments became increasingly rare.
However, his music continued to sell.
According to Greek media, Vangelis died at a hospital in France on Wednesday.
The cause of death is not known.
Vangelis turned 79 years old.