Photo: Michael Putland/Getty

Greek composer of electronic music, Vangelis, 28th January 1976. (Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images)

Vangelis, the Greek composer known for his music used inChariots of FireandBlade Runner, has died. He was 79.

The Academy Award winner died Tuesday at a hospital in France, where he was being treated for COVID-19, a law firm representing Vangelis told Greek newspaperOT. A rep for Vangelis did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Born Evángelos Odysséas Papathanassíou on March 29, 1943, in Agria, Greece and raised in Athens, he was a self-taught musician from an early age. Vangelis came up through the European pop and progressive-rock music scenes in the ’60s and ’70s, playing with several bands and composing nature documentaries.

He received early acclaim for providing the music in Carl Sagan’s 1980 PBS seriesCosmos: A Personal Voyage.

Vangelis.GEORGES BENDRIHEM/getty

A picture taken on October 20, 1992 shows Greek musician and composer Vangelis Papathanassiou, known as Vangelis, posing at the French Culture Ministry after receiving a decoration. - Vangelis, the Greek composer of soundtracks for “Blade Runner” and “Chariots of Fire” has died aged 79, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on May 19, 2022. “Vangelis Papathanassiou is no longer with us,” the prime minister tweeted. “The world of music has lost the international (artist) Vangelis.” (Photo by Georges BENDRIHEM / AFP) (Photo by GEORGES BENDRIHEM/AFP via Getty Images)

Vangelis' big break came when he was tapped to score the 1981 British historical sports dramaChariots of Fire. His work in the film went on to reach No. 1 on theBillboardcharts and win the Academy Award for Best Original Score, in addition to receiving a Grammy nod for Record of the Year.

Although his use of a synthesizer for the electronic score was unorthodox for the time, it normalized the use of synth-based music in film and television, according toVariety.

From there, he went on to compose for such titles as Ridley Scott’sBlade Runner(1982),Missing(1982),Antarctica(1983),The Bounty(1984),1492: Conquest of Paradise(1992) and Oliver Stone’sAlexander(2004).

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Although he rarely spoke to press, Vangelis once opened up about his musical philosophy during an interview withNPR, explaining that synthesizers “have complete different logic than the human logic” and he created his own to allow him to perform every instrument like an orchestra.

“I prefer to have the music as pure as possible,” Vangelis said in 2016. “I don’t want to say, ‘Oh yes, this is good, this is not good, I have to do it again.’ I don’t want to do it again. I want to do it once. It’s no good, I do another one.”

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source: people.com