Kris Kristofferson born 22 June 1936

Kristoffer Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American country singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s. Among his songwriting credits are the songs "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night", all of which were hits for other artists.

As a teenager, Kristoffer Kristofferson was an accomplished writer and athlete. He attended Pomona College in California, where he played football and became a Golden Gloves boxer, a cadet commander of his ROTC battalion, the sports editor of the school paper, and an honour student in English. He also won awards for his short-story writing in a competition sponsored by the Boston-based journal The Atlantic Monthly. He received a Rhodes scholarship to attend the University of Oxford in England, where he studied the poetry of William Blake and earned a master’s degree.

Kristofferson  joined the U.S. Army in 1960, becoming a U.S. Army Ranger and learning to fly helicopters while stationed in what was then West Germany. His studies in literature and poetry prompted an interest in songwriting, and, while he was in the army, he put together a band. When he finished his military tour, he turned down a teaching position at West Point Academy and instead settled in Nashville, where, despite his parents’ objections, he began to pursue a career in music. Kristofferson began selling his songs and working day jobs. 

He had the good fortune to meet Johnny Cash, who was already a star and took Kristofferson under his wing. Cash introduced Kristofferson at the 1969 Newport Folk Festival, where the struggling singer-songwriter first performed for a big audience and, subsequently, gained some footing in the music industry.  Although Kristofferson released an eponymous solo album in 1970 with Monument Records, he continued to be recognized primarily for his songwriting, which was sought after by country and pop singers alike. He also collaborated with poet and cartoonist Shel Silverstein, who cowrote songs such as “Your Time’s Comin’ ” (recorded by Faron Young in 1969) and “Once More with Feeling” (recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis in 1970). “Me and Bobby McGee.”

                        

He continued to produce hits, such as “For the Good Times,” recorded by Ray Price and then named song of the year for 1970 by the Academy of Country Music. That same year Cash’s recording of Kristofferson’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down” was named song of the year by the Country Music Association. In 1971 three of the five Grammy Award nominations for best country song were for songs written by Kristofferson, as were two of the five nominations for song of the year. He won his first Grammy for 1971’s best country song: “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” He recorded about a dozen of his own albums during the 1970s, three of which were collaborations with country singer Rita Coolidge, who was his wife from 1973 to 1979

While he continued to write songs, record, and perform, Kristofferson was also gaining a reputation as a movie actor. His first notable performance was in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), in which he played the notorious outlaw Billy the Kid opposite James Coburn. Othet movies of note include  Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974),  The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (1976),  and A Star Is Born (1976), opposite Barbra Streisand.

Still moving forward with his music career, Kristofferson during the 1980s started a band with fellow country musicians Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson. The band recorded a single and then an album titled Highwayman (1985). Both the single and the album rose to number one on the Billboard country music charts. The group, which became known informally as the Highwaymen, released three albums over the course of a decade, with Highwayman 2 in 1990 and their last one, The Road Goes On Forever, in 1995.

In 1996 Kristofferson was cast as a corrupt sheriff in the John Sayles film Lone Star. His performance was a critical success, revived his acting career, and won him many more roles through the rest of the 1990s, including that of a vampire hunter in Blade and its two sequels. Kristofferson acted in a steady stream of feature films well into the turn of the century.

In the early 21st century Kristofferson released several albums of original material. This Old Road (2006) was his first collection of new songs in more than 10 years. He followed with Closer to the Bone (2009) and Feeling Mortal (2013). In 2016 he offered a two-disc box set of his best-known songs, The Cedar Creek Sessions, which had been recorded in 2014.

Kristofferson was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985 and the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004. He won numerous awards, among them the Songwriters Hall of Fame Johnny Mercer Award (2006) and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (2014). His final film role was in the Ethan Hawke-directed drama Blaze (2018), and his most recent album was 2016’s The Cedar Creek Sessions. His final concert was held in Fort Pierce, Florida, at the Sunrise Theatre on February 5, 2020, accompanied by the Strangers. In January 2021, he announced his retirement. 

Kristofferson died at his home in Maui on September 28, 2024, at the age of 88.

(Edited from Britannica.com & Wikipedia)