Kris Kristofferson, a Rhodes Scholar with a deft writing style and rugged charm who became a country music superstar and a Hollywood A-list actor, has died.
Christopherson died on Saturday (September 28) at his home in Maui, Hawaii, spokesman Ebie McFarland said in an email to him. advertising billboard. He is 88 years old.
Christopherson died peacefully surrounded by his family, McFarland said. No reason was given. He is 88 years old.
Beginning in the late 1960s, the Brownsville, Texas, native wrote “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “For the Good Times” and “Me and Bobby McGee” and other classic works. Kristofferson was a singer in his own right, but many of his songs were sung by others.
He also starred opposite Ellen Burstyn in the 1974 film directed by Martin Scorsese Alice doesn’t live here anymore1976 starring opposite Barbra Streisand a star is born and starring in Marvel movies with Wesley Snipes blade 1998.
Kristofferson has had 19 No. 1 hits on the Billboard 200 album chart, including the No. 1 soundtrack a star is bornin which he co-starred with Streisand. He had more than a dozen songs on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, including two No. 1s: 1973’s “Why Me” and 1985’s all-star “Highwayman” with Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. 》. He has had 25 No. 1s on the country albums chart, including three No. 1s: Jesus is a Capricorn (1973), full moon (with Rita Coolidge, 1973) and highwayman (With Nelson, Jennings, and Cash, 1985).
Notable songs he wrote that were recorded by other artists include: “Me and Bobby McGee” (Janis Joplin’s #1 Hot 100 song), “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” (Johnny Cash’s #1 Hot Country song) , “For the Good Times” (a #1 country hit for Ray Price) and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (a #1 country hit for Sammi Smith).
Christopherson, who could recite William Blake by heart, incorporated complex folk music lyrics about loneliness and tender romance into popular country music. With long hair and bell-bottoms, his counterculture songs were influenced by Bob Dylan, and alongside peers such as Willie Nelson, John Prine and Tom T. Hall, he represented the New A generation of country songwriters.
“There is no better songwriter alive today than Kris Kristofferson,” Nelson said at the BMI Kristofferson Awards in November 2009. “Everything he writes is the standard and we all have to accept that.”
Mary Ellen Mark
As an actor, he starred opposite Barbra Streisand and Ellen Burstyn, but also enjoyed shootout westerns and cowboy dramas.
A former Golden Gloves boxer and rugby player in college, he earned a master’s degree in English from Merton College, Oxford, England, and turned down an appointment to teach at West Point, New York, to pursue songwriting in Nashville. To get into the industry, he worked part-time as a janitor at Columbia Records’ Music Row studios in 1966, where Dylan recorded tracks for the seminal record. blonde on blonde Double album.
Sometimes Kristofferson’s legend is bigger than real life. Cash likes to tell a wildly exaggerated story about how Christopherson, a former U.S. Army pilot, landed a helicopter on Cash’s lawn, handed him a tape of “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and held a Bottle of beer. Christopherson has said in interviews over the years that while he has great respect for Cash, he did When a helicopter landed at Cash’s house, the Man in Black wasn’t even home at the time, the demo tape was for a song that never actually made the cut – and he certainly couldn’t fly the helicopter with a beer in his hand.
In a 2006 interview Associated Presshe said that without Cash, he might not have had his career.
“The minute I shook his hand when I was backstage at Army at the Grand Ole Opry, I decided I wanted to come back,” Christopherson said. “It was electric. Before he cut any of my songs, he kind of took me under his wing. He recorded my first record, which was also the record of the year. He put me on the track for the first time. stage.
Christopherson’s many honors include a 1970 CMA Award for “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”, a 1985 ACM Award for “Highwayman”, a 2004 induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame; Hall of Fame. a star is born 1976.
“Country music has lost one of its most profound storytellers,” Country Music Association CEO Sarah Trahern said in a statement sent to CNN. advertising billboard After Kristofferson’s death, Kristofferson co-hosted the CMA Awards with Anne Murray in 1985 and Nelson in 1986. “I’ve been lucky enough to work with Kris on many projects over the years. He’s just as charming as you can imagine – humble, slightly mysterious, and very warm. As a prolific writer, actor, and performer, he’s His gift was like no other. We are sad that we will no longer be the beneficiaries of his incredible words and talents. Our hearts go out to Chris’s friends and family at this sad time.
One of his most recorded songs, “Me and Bobby McGee,” was written on the recommendation of Monument Records founder Fred Foster. Foster had a song title in mind called “Me and Bobby McGee,” named after a female secretary in his building. Christopherson said in an interview with the magazine performing songwriter He was inspired to write a lyric about a man and a woman on the road together after watching a Frederico Fellini film on the street.
Joplin, who was close to Kristofferson, changed the lyrics to make Bobby McGee a man and deleted her version days before her death from a drug overdose in 1970. The record became Joplin’s posthumous No. 1 hit.
In 1973, Christopherson married songwriter Rita Coolidge, and together they had a successful duet career that earned them two Grammy Awards. They divorced in 1980.
He retired from performing and recording in 2021, making only occasional guest appearances on stage.
