Vangelis (born as Evangelos Odyssey Papathanassiou or Vangelis Papathnassiou)
Best known for his lush, Oscar-winning score to the 1981 film Chariots
of Fire, Vangelis was among the most successful and admired electronic
composers of his era. Born Evangelos Odyssey Papathanassiou in Volos,
Greece, on March 29, 1943, his nascent musical talent was recognized at
an early age, but he refused to take piano lessons, instead teaching
himself.
After high school he formed the early-'60s pop group Formynx, soon the
most popular act in Greece. After achieving superstardom at home,
Vangelis relocated to Paris in 1968, and was in France at the time of
the student riots; unable to go back home, he formed the progressive
rock band Aphrodite's Child with fellow Greek expatriates Demis Roussos
and Lucas Sideras, soon scoring a major European hit with the single
"Rain and Tears."
After Aphrodite's Child disbanded in 1972, Vangelis joined French
filmmaker Frederic Rossif to compose the scores for the features
L'Apocalypse des Animaux and La Fete Sauvage; his proper solo debut,
Earth, followed in 1974, around the time he was rumored to be joining
Yes. Although Vangelis did rehearse with Yes for a few weeks, he never
officially joined their ranks; still, he became close friends with
group vocalist Jon Anderson, a
frequent collaborator in the years to follow. Relocating to London,
Vangelis established his own state-of-the-art recording studio,
producing a steady flow of recordings including 1975's Heaven and Hell,
1976's Albedo 0.39, 1977's Spiral, and 1978's Beaubourg. Teaming with
Anderson under the name Jon & Vangelis, he also scored a series of
U.K. hits, including 1980's "I Hear You Now" and the following year's
"I'll Find My Way Home."
Vangelis' international commercial breakthrough followed in 1982, when
his score to Chariots of Fire earned the film one of its many Academy
Awards; its theme song even cracked the Top Ten on the U.S. pop charts.
That same year, he also created the powerful score to the cult classic
Blade Runner, the beginning of a partnership with director Ridley
Scott, which also yielded soundtracks to films including 1492: Conquest
of Paradise.
Vangelis also composed the music for a number of Jacques Cousteau
documentaries in addition to maintaining his flourishing solo career,
issuing acclaimed LPs including 1985's The Mask, 1988's Antarctica, and
1990's The City. In 1992, he was awarded the Chevalier Order of Arts
and Letters, one of France's most prestigious honors. El Greco followed
in 1998.
Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide
Born as John Roy Anderson on
October 25, 1944, in Lancashire, England, Jon Anderson would grow up to
become one of the most recognizable voices in progressive rock. He
began his musical career by joining his brother Tony's group the
Warriors. Eventually, that band relocated from England to Germany,
however Tony had left the group by then. So, the only Anderson still in
the band by 1965 when they cut their first single was Jon (technically
still John at that time). The single received a less than enthusiastic
welcome and Anderson left the group in 1967, having put in five years
with them. His next move was to the group the Party, but that one was
quite short-lived. By 1968, Anderson had returned to England and
recorded two singles under the moniker Hans Christian Anderson. Those
received responses similar to what the Warriors' single had. Anderson
found his way into the group Gun, but only stayed there for a couple of
months.
The year was 1968 and musical history was about to be made with an
introduction in a London club. Jon Anderson was introduced to Chris
Squire and finding a kindred spirit in music, he began showing up at
gigs of Squire's band Mabel Greer's Toy Shop, whose guitarist at the
time was Peter Banks. Anderson started getting up and singing with the
group from time to time, eventually becoming their vocalist. However,
Banks had left by the time Anderson was inducted. More pieces gradually
began to fall into the mix as various musicians were brought into the
Toy Shop fold. First Bill Bruford, then Tony Kaye. By the time Peter
Banks returned, the band had decided to change their name to Yes. They
released their first two albums in 1969 and 1970 and they received good
critical response, but not a large commercial or radio presence. By the
time that they recorded 1970's The Yes Album, the band had replaced
Peter Banks with Steve Howe and the combination, along with a stroke of
luck at a U.S. radio station, proved the charm to begin their
commercial career. Interestingly, Anderson found the time for side
projects even amidst recording and touring with Yes. In fact, he would
show up on two albums in the first two years of the decade. The first
was King Crimson's Lizard and the other was Johnny Harris' All to Bring
You Morning. The next Yes album, 1972's Fragile, would feature both the
debut of new keyboardist Rick Wakeman and the single "Roundabout." The
combination propelled the group and Anderson well into the spotlight.
For the next couple of years, Yes occupied the majority of Anderson's
time. With the recording of three more studio albums before 1974 and
steady touring, he would have little time for much else. However, after
the tour for Relayer, things began to settle down a bit. Anderson
managed to work with Vangelis Papathanassiou,
who had been Yes' first choice for Rick Wakeman's replacement. Although
immigration issues forced the band to go with Patrick Moraz instead,
Anderson added vocals to the keyboardist's Heaven and Hell album
released in 1975. It would definitely not be the last time they would
work together.
1900
1976 saw the entire band taking time to record solo albums. Anderson's
outing, Olias of Sunhillow, was an ambitious creation. It was an
album-long concept piece with nearly all the writing and performances
being undertaken by the singer himself. He also added vocals to Yes
drummer Alan White's Ramshackled album. The break seemed to revitalize
the band and their next release, Going for the One, featuring the
return of Rick Wakeman, was a very strong album and ushered the band
into 1977 with style. Anderson's role in the group was close to coming
to an end for a time, though. He stuck with them through the next album
and couple of tours, but when they began recording for the follow up to
Tormato, the dreaded "musical differences" cropped up and Anderson
left. He definitely did not become idle, though. Indeed, the next
couple of years proved very fertile for him. He released his second
solo album, Song of Seven, in 1980. That same year, he collaborated
again with Papathanassiou. This time they recorded an entire album
together and released it under the moniker Jon & Vangelis. The
album was called Short Stories, and they enjoyed that work so much that
before the end of 1981, they released two more albums together. 1981
also saw Anderson appearing on Rick Wakeman's 1984 album. His next solo
release was 1982's Animation, a show he took on the road.
1983 would be another turning point for Anderson. He worked on Mike
Oldfield's Crises album, but that would not be the decisive factor in
his career. By that time, Yes had been broken up for almost three
years. Chris Squire and Alan White were working with a young guitarist
named Trevor Rabin on a project called Cinema. Tony Kaye had also been
enlisted for the project. Producer and one-time Anderson Yes
replacement Trevor Horn suggested that Anderson should add some vocals
to the project. Upon agreeing. Anderson remarked that with his voice on
the songs it would be Yes. The group agreed and the name Cinema was
dropped in favor of Yes. The resulting album, 90125, propelled by the
hit single "Owner of a Lonely Heart," saw the band receive more success
than they had ever previously attained. A tour ensued, but then the
band had some quiet time. Anderson took the opportunity to record
another solo album, this time a collection of holiday songs, entitled
Three Ships. He also managed to work on a few other projects including
movie soundtracks with John Paul Jones and Tangerine Dream. The next
Yes album and tour in 1987 saw those musical differences once again
appearing and Anderson again left Yes.
In the time following his second departure from the group, he released
another solo album, this one a rather poppy collection entitled In the
City of Angels. He also guested on Toto's release The Seventh One. By
that time, he had begun talking with several Yes alumni about working
together again. The group of them, Anderson, Steve Howe, Rick Wakeman,
and Bill Bruford were joined by Tony Levin and completed an album. The
only problem was deciding what to call the group. They had wanted to
name it Yes, but Chris Squire proved ownership of that name and was not
going to let them use it. So, they chose to forego cleverness and work
with their last names. Thus their album was a self-titled one called
Anderson- Bruford-Wakeman-Howe. The group toured fairly extensively for
the release, but Anderson still wound up finding the time to contribute
vocals to Jonathan Elias' Requiem for the Americas album. Another odd
turn of events was looming on the horizon, though. As
Anderson-Bruford-Wakeman-Howe were working on their second release, Yes
was in the process of recording their next album. Lines of
communication were once again opened and both projects were combined
into one Yes album, dubbed Union. The group toured for the album to
both filled stadiums and rave reviews. Anderson still found time to get
together with Papathanassiou again and release the next Jon &
Vangelis album, Page of Life, in 1991. The following year, he worked on
Kitaro's album Dream. Among other projects, Anderson would do another
album with Papathanassiou (Chronicles) and two solo albums (Deseo and
Change We Must) before the 1994 release of the next Yes album, Talk.
The lineup on that disc was back to a five-piece, Steve Howe, Rick
Wakeman, and Bill Bruford having gone their separate ways.
The next couple of years were quiet ones for Yes, but not for Anderson.
He made guest appearances on a few projects and released two new solo
albums. And big things were once again on the horizon for Yes. It was
announced in late 1995 that Trevor Rabin and Tony Kaye were no longer
part of the group. They were replaced by alums Steve Howe and Rick
Wakeman. A classic Yes lineup and incredible fan enthusiasm surrounded
both the band and Anderson. The group did three shows in San Luis
Obispo in March of 1996. The shows were recorded and released along
with new studio material as the two Keys to Ascension albums. 1997 saw
quite a bit more activity from Anderson. He released two solo albums,
the Celtic The Promise Ring and EarthMotherEarth. Yes also released an
album featuring his vocals. The disc was called Open Your Eyes and in
true Yes tradition of revolving door membership, it did not feature
Rick Wakeman, who had already left. Anderson went along with the group
on a tour of small intimate theaters that fall. In 1998, he released
his next solo album, The More You Know. That same year saw several
releases featuring his vocal talents. Among them was 4Him's album
Streams, Yes' The Ladder, and Steve Howe's Portraits of Bob Dylan.
Touring and working on the Yes album Magnification have kept Anderson
pretty busy, but he found time to appear on Béla Fleck & the
Flecktones' 2000 release Outbound.
