Country legend and actor dies at age 88

Kris Kristofferson, a Rhodes scholar with deft writing and rugged charisma who became a country superstar and star Hollywood actor, has died.

Kristofferson died Saturday (Sept. 28) at his home in Maui, Hawaii, spokeswoman Ebie McFarland said in an email billboard. He was 88.

McFarland said Kristofferson died peacefully surrounded by his family. No reason was given. He was 88.

Starting in the late 1960s, the Brownsville native wrote classics like “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “For the Good Times” and “Me and Bobby McGee.” Kristofferson was a singer himself, but many of his songs became known primarily through being sung by others, be it Ray Price singing “For the Good Times” or Janis Joplin belting out “Me and Bobby McGee.”

He also starred opposite Ellen Burstyn in director Martin Scorsese’s 1974 film Alice doesn’t live here anymorestarred alongside Barbra Streisand in 1976 A star is born and starred alongside Wesley Snipes in Marvel’s blade in 1998.

Kristofferson, who could recite William Blake by heart, wove intricate folk lyrics about loneliness and tender romance into popular country music. With his long hair and bell-bottoms and counterculture songs influenced by Bob Dylan, he represented a new generation of country songwriters alongside colleagues like Willie Nelson, John Prine and Tom T. Hall.

“There is no better songwriter than Kris Kristofferson,” Nelson said during a BMI-hosted awards ceremony for Kristofferson in November 2009. “Everything he writes is a standard, and we all have to live with that.”

As an actor, he starred alongside Barbara Streisand and Ellen Burstyn, but also had a penchant for shoot-out westerns and cowboy dramas.

He was a Golden Gloves boxer and football player in college, received a master’s degree in English from Merton College, Oxford University in England, and turned down a teaching position at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, to pursue songwriting to dedicate in Nashville. Hoping to break into the industry, he worked as a part-time janitor at Columbia Records’ Music Row Studio in 1966 when Dylan recorded tracks for the groundbreaking album Blonde on blonde Double album.

At times, the legend of Kristofferson was larger than real life. Cash liked to tell a largely exaggerated story about how Kristofferson, a former U.S. Army pilot, landed a helicopter on Cash’s lawn, beer in hand, to give him a cassette of “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.” Kristofferson said this in interviews over the years with all due respect to Cash while did When he landed a helicopter at Cash’s house, the Man in Black wasn’t even home at the time, the demo tape was a song that no one had actually cut – and he certainly couldn’t fly a helicopter with a beer in his hand fly.

In an interview with The Associated Presshe said that without cash he might not have had a career.

“Shaking his hand backstage at the Grand Ole Opry when I was still in the Army was the moment I decided to come back,” Kristofferson said. “It was electric. He kind of took me under his wing before cutting one of my songs. He recorded my first record, which was record of the year. He brought me on stage for the first time.”

Kristofferson received a CMA Award in 1970 for writing “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004, and received the Country Music Association’s Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019.

“The world of country music has lost one of its most profound storytellers,” noted Sarah Trahern, CEO of the Country Music Association, in a statement obtained by billboard. “I have been fortunate to work with Kris on many projects over the years. His charm was exactly what you would expect – understated and slightly mysterious, yet deeply warm. A prolific writer, actor and performer, his talents were unique. We regret that we will no longer benefit from his incredible words and talents. Our condolences go out to Kris’ friends and family at this sad time.”

Kristofferson co-hosted the CMA Awards in 1985 with Anne Murray and with Nelson in 1986.

One of his most recorded songs, “Me and Bobby McGee,” was written at the recommendation of Monument Records founder Fred Foster. Foster had a song title in mind called “Me and Bobby McKee,” named after a secretary in his building. Kristofferson said in an interview in the magazine: Interpretive songwriter that after watching the Frederico Fellini film he was inspired to write the text about a man and a woman traveling together La Strada.

Joplin, who had a close relationship with Kristofferson, changed the lyrics to make Bobby McGee a man and cut her version just days before she died of a drug overdose in 1970. The recording became a posthumous No. 1 hit for Joplin.

Hits Kristofferson recorded include “Why Me,” “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do),” “Watch Closely Now,” “Desperados Waiting for a Train,” and “A Song I’ d Like to Sing.” and “Jesus was a Capricorn.”

In 1973, he married fellow songwriter Rita Coolidge and together they had a successful duet career that earned them two Grammy awards. They divorced in 1980.

In 2021, he retired from performing and recording, only occasionally appearing on stage as a guest.