Giorgio Moroder turns 80!

Today marks the 80th birthday of Giorgio Moroder, who most people would probably associate with his place in disco/electronic music by bring synthesizers and overdubbing to Donna Summer's hit I Feel Love.

So why am I mentioning his birthday here? Well, it turns out that he wrote any number of movie scores as well as pop songs for movies -- and won three Oscars for this work. The first was for the score to Midnght Express, presented by the ever-hot Raquel Welch and an embarrassingly drunk Dean Martin:



Gotta love those eyeglass frames that were a big thing in the 60s and 70s.

Moroder's second Oscar came for co-writing the title song from Flashdance; Irene Cara sang it and co-wrote, finally getting an Oscar since she didn't write the title song from Fame but only sang it. I'm not embedding that clip since Moroder was not present for the awards ceremony. The final Oscar came for "Take My Breath Away", from the film Top Gun:



Moroder is still working today, as he's been asked to write a song for the new Top Gun: Maverick movie that's supposed to be released at the end of the year.