Vangelis

Born in a small Greek town, Vangelis reportedly began improvising on the family piano before the age of four and never formally learned to read music, instead developing an entirely intuitive, improvisational approach to composition that he retained for his entire career. He first found fame in Greek and European progressive rock groups before relocating to Paris and then London to pursue a solo recording career built around synthesizers.

The Greek synth maestro's CS-80 textures made rain-soaked neon sound the way it looks, and his Blade Runner score remains the high-water mark of electronic film music. Entirely self-taught and unable to read sheet music throughout his life, he composed by ear and pure improvisation, often recording entire cues in a single continuous take directly to tape rather than working from a written score.

He won an Academy Award for Chariots of Fire two years before scoring Blade Runner, and the official soundtrack album for that film was so delayed by licensing and creative disputes that a proper release didn't appear for well over a decade after the movie premiered — leaving fans to trade bootlegs and orchestral re-recordings in the meantime.