Vangelis Papathanasiou (AKA Vangelis) was born in Agria, Magnisia in 1943. He started playing music very early as a self-taught.

During the '60s he worked with popular greek bands such as the Forminx. In the late '60s he moved in Paris and formed the progressive rock band Aphrodite's Child, with which he had great commercial and artistic success. Then he moved to London to pursue a personal career.

In the early '70s he did some recordings influenced by free jazz and free improvisation, that were later released without his approval.

He composed scores for many films, such as Blade Runner, Missing, Alexander, Antarcica etc. His soundrack for the film Chariots of Fire won an Academy Award for the best original music score in 1982.

He died in May 2022.