Words of a Synth God: Vangelis-The Complete 1982 Totally Wired Interview
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A true God of electronic music, Vangelis, ascended the heavens at age 79 on May 17th, 2022. Although his glory days were in the 1970s and 80s, he was just coming back into form with albums like Rosetta and Juno to Jupiter.
Vangelis is an artist better known by his work than his name. Mention the Greek synthesist to the general public and you’ll likely get a quizzical stare. Remind them that he scored Chariots of Fire, his Academy Award winning score from 1982 and their eyes light up in recognition.
My first of two interviews with Vangelis was in 1982 at his Nemo Studios in London. It was for the radio series, Totally Wired. It was only days after he’d won the Academy Award and he was just putting the finishing touches on Blade Runner. In the Echoes Podcast you’ll hear the complete and extensive interview that covers Vangelis’s career from his Greek childhood to his progressive rock band Aphrodite’s Child to his early albums like Heaven & Hell, Albedo 0.39 and Beauborg. The interview takes you to just a moment before the release of the Blade Runner movie.
79, not 70 =]
Thank you for sharing this! While I didn’t learn anything new (he basically said the same things in the few interviews he did) it’s awesome that you were able to talk to him for so long! And wonderful to hear him speak. That must have been a huge honour for you.
Thanks!
Great stuff. Only 10 minutes in and amazed by his English, I can’t recall it was so fluent in other interviews. He was always searching for the right words and seemed to have a limited vocabulary. He seems to be in a nice rhythm here.
Guess that may be because he was still living in England at the time.