Kris Kristofferson

Kristoffer Kristofferson was born on June 22, 1936, in Brownsville, Texas, the oldest of three children of Mary Ann (née Ashbrook) and Henry Kristofferson. His father was an Army Air Corps officer who became a major general in the U.S. Air Force and later a manager for Saudi Aramco, and he encouraged his son toward a military career. The family moved frequently before settling in San Mateo, California, where Kris graduated from San Mateo High School in 1954. At 17 he took a summer job with a dredging contractor on Wake Island in the western Pacific.

At Pomona College in Claremont, California, he majored in literature and studied under Frederick Sontag, whom he regarded as a major influence. He won essay prizes that were published in The Atlantic, worked construction and firefighting jobs, and was featured in the March 31, 1958, issue of Sports Illustrated for rugby, football and track. He helped revive the Claremont Colleges Rugby Club, was elected to Phi Beta Kappa as a junior, and graduated summa cum laude in English literature in 1958. A Rhodes Scholarship took him to Merton College, Oxford, where he earned a B.Phil. in English literature in 1960. Pomona later gave him an honorary doctorate in fine arts (1973).

In 1961 he joined the U.S. Army and was commissioned a second lieutenant. He completed Ranger School and helicopter pilot training at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and served with the 8th Infantry Division in West Germany, rising to captain and forming a band to play service clubs. In 1965 he was assigned to teach English literature at West Point, but after a two-week leave in Nashville he resigned to pursue songwriting. He later flew helicopters for the Tennessee National Guard at weekends and for Petroleum Helicopters International in Louisiana.

Kristofferson arrived in Nashville in 1965 with Marijohn Wilkin's Buckhorn Music and worked as a bartender, construction worker and Columbia Records janitor while pitching songs. His break came when Johnny Cash took him to the 1969 Newport Folk Festival. Fred Foster signed him to Monument Records and Combine Music. Cash's version of "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" won the CMA Song of the Year in 1970, and his songs became hits for Roger Miller, Ray Price, Sammi Smith, Jerry Lee Lewis and Janis Joplin, whose "Me and Bobby McGee" topped the pop chart in 1971.

His albums Kristofferson (1970), The Silver Tongued Devil and I (1971), Border Lord and Jesus Was a Capricorn (both 1972) established him as a performer. "Why Me" reached No. 1 on the country chart in 1973 and went gold. With Rita Coolidge he recorded Full Moon, Breakaway and Natural Act. From 1985 to 1995 he was a member of the Highwaymen with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson; their "Highwayman" was a country No. 1 and the ACM Single of the Year. Later albums included Repossessed (1986), The Austin Sessions (1999), This Old Road (2006), Closer to the Bone (2009), Feeling Mortal (2013) and his final studio album, The Cedar Creek Sessions (2016). His last performance was at the Hollywood Bowl on April 29, 2023, for Willie Nelson's 90th birthday.

Kristofferson made his screen debut in Dennis Hopper's The Last Movie (1971) and starred in Cisco Pike (1972) with Gene Hackman. He played Billy the Kid in Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), earning a BAFTA nomination, and also worked with Peckinpah on Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) and Convoy (1978). Other films included Blume in Love, Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, Semi-Tough and A Star Is Born (1976) with Barbra Streisand, which won him the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. He led Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate (1980), whose failure hurt his career, and co-starred in Rollover, Songwriter (Oscar nominated score), Trouble in Mind and the miniseries Amerika. John Sayles's Lone Star (1996) revived his career, followed by the Blade trilogy (1998 to 2004) as Abraham Whistler, Payback, Planet of the Apes, Dreamer, Dolphin Tale and his final film, Blaze (2018). He also voiced Chief Hanlon in the video game Fallout: New Vegas (2010).

He married Frances "Fran" Beer in 1961; they had two children, Tracy and Kris Jr., and divorced in 1969. He dated Janis Joplin briefly before her death in 1970. He married singer Rita Coolidge in 1973; their daughter is Casey, and they divorced in 1980. In 1983 he married Lisa Meyers, with whom he had five children: Jesse, Jody, John, Kelly and Blake. The couple had a home in Malibu and lived in Hana, Maui, from 1990 until his death. He underwent heart bypass surgery in 1999. From 2004 he struggled with memory loss, and in 2016 his wife said doctors had diagnosed Lyme disease after years in which Alzheimer's disease had been suspected.

Kristofferson called himself a "dove with claws." His first album included a pro-Vietnam War song, but he later turned against the war after talking with returning soldiers, and he opposed the Gulf and Iraq wars, the invasion of Panama and U.S. support for the Contras. He endorsed Jesse Jackson in 1988 and Ross Perot in 1992, campaigned with Cesar Chavez and played benefits for the United Farm Workers for decades, and performed for Leonard Peltier and for Palestinian children. In 1992 he stood beside Sinéad O'Connor on stage at Bob Dylan's anniversary concert when the crowd booed her.

Kristofferson is credited with bringing a literary, introspective voice to country songwriting and with helping launch the outlaw country movement away from the polished Nashville sound. Songs such as "Me and Bobby McGee," "For the Good Times," "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night" have been recorded by hundreds of artists. His songwriting earned 48 BMI Country and Pop Awards, and BMI named him an Icon in 2009. Bob Dylan said Nashville could be seen as "pre-Kris and post-Kris."

Three competitive Grammy Awards from 13 nominations, including Best Country Song for "Help Me Make It Through the Night" and two duo awards with Rita Coolidge; Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2014); Golden Globe for Best Actor, Musical or Comedy, for A Star Is Born; CMA Song of the Year for "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" (1970); Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (1977); Songwriters Hall of Fame (1985); Country Music Hall of Fame (2004); Americana Music Association Spirit of Americana free speech award (2003); Songwriters Hall of Fame Johnny Mercer Award (2006); CMT Johnny Cash Visionary Award (2007); BMI Icon (2009).

Kris Kristofferson died peacefully at his home in Hana, Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday, September 28, 2024, aged 88. The family statement, issued through spokesperson Ebie McFarland and signed by his wife Lisa, his eight children and seven grandchildren, said: "We're all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he's smiling down at us all." No cause of death was given. He had asked that the first three lines of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on the Wire" be carved on his tombstone. Dolly Parton, Barbra Streisand, Reba McEntire, Miranda Lambert and Willie Nelson were among those who paid tribute.