His death was announced Thursday by Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

"Vangelis Papathanassiou is no longer with us," he tweeted.

During his more than 50-year career, the artist nicknamed Vangelis found his inspiration in space exploration, nature, futuristic architecture, the New Testament and the student movement of May 1968.

This self-taught keyboard genius has always enjoyed multiplying experiences and has moved with ease from psychedelic rock and synth to ethnic music and jazz.

Greek musician and composer Vangelis Papathanassiou at the French Ministry of Culture on October 20, 1992 Georges BENDRIHEM AFP

His soundtrack for "Chariots of Fire" by Hugh Hudson won an Oscar against John Williams' music made for Indiana Jones' first feature film in 1982.

At the top of the American charts, its composition was also a hit in the United Kingdom and was used for the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

"His mastery and stormy inspiration in creating sound, totally original, created a global audience," Greek Culture Minister Lina Mendoni said, "he was ecumenical."

Among the dozen soundtracks he has composed are those for the Costa-Gavras film "Missing", Ridley Scott's "1492: Christopher Columbus", Roman Polanski's "Bile Moons" and "Alexander" by 'Oliver Stone.

He also wrote music for theater and ballet, as well as the 2002 FIFA World Cup anthem.

Child prodigy

Evangelos Odysseas Papathanassiou was born in 1943 in the village of Agria near Volos (center).

A child prodigy, he gave his first piano concert at the age of 6, without having really taken any lessons.

"I never studied music," he told the Greek magazine Periodiko in 1988, also deploring the growing "exploitation" imposed by the studios and the media.

"You can sell a million records and feel like a failure. Or you can sell nothing at all and feel very happy," he said.

After studying painting at the School of Fine Arts in Athens, Vangelis joined the Greek rock band "Forminx" in the 1960s.

Greek composer Vangelis, right, alongside Demis Roussos, second left, and Loukas Sideras, second right, in a photograph released on July 12, 1969 by their group, Aphrodite's Child - AFP

Their success was cut short by the military junta in 1967, which clamped down on freedom of expression.

Trying to reach the UK, he found himself stranded in Paris during the student movement of May 1968, and together with two other Greek exiles, Demis Roussos and Lucas Sideras, he formed a progressive rock band "Aphrodite's Child".

The group sold millions of records with hits such as "Rain and Tears" before disbanding in 1972.

Relocated to London in 1974, Vangelis created Nemo studios, "a sound laboratory", producer of most of his albums.

"Success is treacherous"

“Success is sweet and treacherous,” the lion-maned composer confessed to the Observer in 2012.

“Instead of being able to move freely and do what you really want, you find yourself stuck and having to repeat yourself,” he also added.

In 2019 in an interview with the Los Angeles Times, the musician claimed to see parallels with the dystopia described in the film "Blade Runner" by Ridley Scott.

"When I saw the images, I understood that this was the future. Not a bright future, of course. But this is where we are going," he said.

Vangelis, who had a planet renamed after him in 1995, had a fascination with space.

“Every planet sings,” he told this newspaper in 2019.

In 1980 he participated in the music of the scientific documentary Cosmos, awarded the Carla Sagan prize.

He wrote music for NASA's Mars Odyssey in 2001 and the Juno Jupiter missions in 2011, and was inspired in a Grammy-nominated album by the Rosetta spacecraft mission in 2016.

In 2018, he composed a track for Stephen Hawking's funeral which mentioned the famous professor's last words.

Vangelis has received the Max Steiner Film Score Award, the Legion of Honor in France, the NASA Public Service Medal, and Greece's highest honour, the Order of the Phoenix.

During the last years of his life, Vangelis divided his time between Paris, London and Athens, always remaining discreet about his private life.

© 2022 AFP