After having taken piano lessons, Vangelis began his professional musical career working with several popular bands of the 1960s such as the Forminx and Aphrodite's Child, with the latter's album 666 going on to be recognized as a psychedelic classic. Throughout the 1970s, Vangelis composed music scores for several animal documentaries, including L'Apocalypse des Animaux, La Fête sauvage and Opéra sauvage; the success of these scores brought him into the film scoring mainstream. In the early 1980s, Vangelis formed a musical partnership with Jon Anderson, the lead singer of progressive rock band Yes, and the duo went on to release several albums together as Jon & Vangelis.
In 1981, he composed the score for the Oscar-winning film Chariots of Fire, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Original Score. The soundtrack's single, the film's "Titles" theme, also reached the top of the American Billboard Hot 100 chart and was used as the background music at the London 2012 Olympics winners' medal presentation ceremonies. Vangelis also received acclaim for his synthesizer-based soundtrack for the 1982 film Blade Runner.
Having had a career in music spanning over 70 years and having composed and performed more than 50 albums, Vangelis is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of electronic music.
Vangelis was born 29 March 1943, in Agria, near Volos, Greece. Largely a self-taught musician, he reportedly began composing at the age of three. His earliest memory is "playing piano, some percussion and whatever else that was available that made a noise. Right from the start, I was only interested in playing my own music". He refused to take traditional piano lessons, and throughout his career did not have substantial knowledge of reading or writing musical notation. When he was six, Vangelis's parents enrolled him at a specialist music school in Athens. He recalls "I was lucky not to go because music schools close doors rather than open them". He studied painting, an art he still practices, at the Athens School of Fine Arts.
In 1989 received Max Steiner Award. France made Vangelis a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters in 1992 and promoted to Commander in 2017, as well Chevalier de la Legion d’ Honneur in 2001. In 1993 received music award Apollo by Friends of the Athens National Opera Society. In 1995, Vangelis had a minor planet named after him (6354 Vangelis) by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC) at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory; the name was proposed by the MPC's co-director, Gareth V. Williams, rather than by the object's original discoverer, Eugène Joseph Delporte, who died in 1955, long before the 1934 discovery could be confirmed by observations made in 1990. In 1996 and 1997 was awarded at World Music Awards.
NASA conferred their Public Service Medal to Vangelis in 2003. The award is the highest honour the space agency presents to an individual not involved with the American government. Five years later, in 2008, the board of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens voted to make Vangelis an Honorary Doctor, making him Professor Emeritus at their Faculty of Primary Education. In June 2008, the American Hellenic Institute honoured Vangelis with an AHI Hellenic Heritage Achievement Award for his "exceptional artistic achievements" as a pioneer in electronic music and for his lifelong dedication to the promotion of Hellenism through the arts. On 16 September 2013, he received the honour of appearing on the Greek 80 cent postage stamp, as part of a series of six distinguished living personalities of the Greek Diaspora.
March With Me
Vangelis Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
For peace and love
My only dream
And wish for the world
Join with me now
And march with me
Love is the word
Let's try once again
And march ...
Let's try once again
To help all mankind
To win those lost hearts
And start this new life
No evil, no guns,
Just freedom and peace
No evil, just freedom, no guns,
No evil, just freedom
And march
With this poignant and compelling song, Vangelis invites us to join him in his quest for peace, love, and freedom. He calls for us to sing with him, to march with him, and to try once again to make the world a better place. The lyrics express his deep yearning for a world free from violence, hatred and oppression.
The lines "Join with me now and march with me" are particularly powerful, as they not only encourage us to physically stand together and take action, but also symbolize our collective strength and determination to overcome the forces that seek to divide us. The song emphasizes the importance of love, compassion, and togetherness in creating a world that we can all be proud of.
As such, March With Me can be seen as an anthem of hope and a call to action, urging us to come together as one and work towards a brighter future for all. It is a reminder that even in the darkest of times, our voices and actions have the power to bring about positive change and make a difference in the world.
Line by Line Meaning
Come sing with me
Join me in creating a musical harmony that symbolizes unity and togetherness.
For peace and love
Singing together to promote the importance of peace and love in the world.
My only dream
The sole aspiration I have is to see the world filled with love, joy, and harmony.
And wish for the world
My desire is for the world to experience love, peace, and unity among all nations and people groups.
Join with me now
I urge you to come together and stand in solidarity for the cause of peace and love.
And march with me
Let us join our efforts and move forward towards the ultimate goal of spreading love and peace throughout the world.
Love is the word
Love is the fundamental principle that underlies all our efforts towards peace and togetherness.
Let's try once again
Despite past failures and setbacks, we must try again to create a more peaceful and loving world for all.
Stop all fights now
We must put an end to all conflicts and violence that prevent us from achieving a peaceful world.
And march ...
Continuing to move forward united as one towards a better world without violence or hate.
Contributed by Penelope V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@jordanjohnson2589
Without Jesus this world will never ever come together and it never will until the second coming of Jesus
@kingme974
Caballe may be gone forever but she will never be forgotten!
@dearmalika
What a wonderful song! Stop war and pain! Give world a chance!
@indyionut
I hope this message will received of all world leaders. In nearest future.
@soniasalinas7034
Éste es un himno a la humanidad en la voz de la sra Caballé ,tan divina , al magistral compositor Sr.Vangelis quien nos impresiona con cada composición que nos inspira transportándonos a otras esferas del espíritu para purificar el alma .muchas gracias ...y...por supuesto a este grandioso medio que nos permite disfrutar de la música.
Los Ángeles Chile.
@revelrot
" Let's try once again " !! " War is not the answer " !! " Just peace, just freedom " !! Quelle musique et quelle voix !!! SUBLIMES !!!!! Et les images, SUPERBES !!!!!! Merci Eileen !!!! xxx <3
@tav2020
Thank you for your response and for posting this wonderful song. I hope some people in thailand would be enlightened and get away from blindness.I pray for it everyday.
@astridgunkel2230
I love this song.......and Montserrat Caballe!!!!!!!!💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
@victoriadragonescu1991
AWESOME!
@RomietNJulio
Seems like the best music inspiring world peace without hatred, war and killing.