Kris Kristofferson

With his bushy beard, world-weary songs, gnarled looks, weather-beaten voice and an enticing sense of danger and rebellion, Kris Kristofferson was one of the country music ‘outlaws’ who, like his friends Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson, reconstructed the image of country music from the overly sentimental clichés commonly associated with Nashville and the Grand Ole Opry. Born in Brownsville, Texas, on June 22, 1936, his grandparents came to the US from Sweden and his father was a major general in the US Air Force, meaning the family never settled for long in one place. Winning a scholarship to Oxford University, Kris Kristofferson moved to England and started writing songs and, although he went on to join the US Army and became a helicopter pilot, he quit to pursue his music career in 1965. He headed straight to Nashville, Tennessee and took a job sweeping floors at Columbia Studios while pitching his songs to publishers. He wrote some of his best-known songs during this time, leading to a deal with Epic Records after other artists had hits with his songs. At this time, his songs – including "Me and Bobby McGee,” “Sunday Morning Comin' Down,” and "Once More with Feelin'" – were better known than the singer-songwriter himself. His career really took off after his then girlfriend Janis Joplin had a number 1 US hit with his song "Me and Bobby McGee" and others had success with his original songs like "The Taker" (Waylon Jennings), "Help Me Make It Through the Night" (Sammi Smith) and "Sunday Morning Comin' Down" (Johnny Cash). Kris Kristofferson diversified into movies starring in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) and A Star is Born (1976) and performed for a while as a duo with his then wife Rita Coolidge. He later forming country supergroup The Highwaymen with friends Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Johnny Cash. He maintained parallel careers as singer, songwriter and actor through the 1990s and 2000s and his gravelly voice was still proving an irresistible draw even in the latter days of his career. Kris Kristofferson died on September 28, 2024, at the age of 88.