(Los Angeles) Country music star with a skillful writing style and raw charisma and a leading Hollywood actor, Kris Kristofferson has died.
Posted at 6:44 p.m.
Updated at 7:49 p.m.
Kris Kristofferson lived his final moments at his home in Maui, Hawaii, family spokeswoman Ebie McFarland said in an email.
Mme McFarland said Mr. Kristofferson died peacefully, surrounded by his family. No cause was given. He was 88 years old.
Beginning in the late 1960s, the Brownsville, Texas native wrote classic songs such as Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down, Help Me Make it Through the Night, For the Good Times et Me and Bobby McGee.
Kris Kristofferson was a singer himself, but many of his compositions were performed by others, whether Ray Price with For the Good Times or Janis Joplin with Me and Bobby McGee.
He also starred alongside Ellen Burstyn in the 1974 Martin Scorsese film Alice is no longer herealongside Barbra Streisand in A Star Is Born in 1976, and alongside Wesley Snipes in Blade the Marvel and 1998.
PHOTO MARK HUMPHREY, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kris Kristofferson in 1995
Kris Kristofferson, who could recite William Blake’s work from memory, weaved intricate folk music lyrics about loneliness and tender romance into popular country music. With his long hair, bell bottom pants, and Bob Dylan-influenced counterculture songs, he represented a new generation of country songwriters alongside peers like Willie Nelson, John Prine, and Tom T. Lobby.
“There is no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson,” Mr. Nelson said at a BMI awards ceremony for Mr. Kristofferson in November 2009.
Hoping to break into the music industry, Mr. Kristofferson worked as a part-time janitor at Columbia Records’ Music Row studio in 1966, when Bob Dylan recorded tracks for the seminal double album Blonde on Blonde.
One of his most recorded songs, Me and Bobby McGeewas written based on a recommendation from Monument Records founder Fred Foster. Mr. Foster had a song title in mind called Me and Bobby McKeenamed after a secretary in his building. Kris Kristofferson said in an interview with the magazine Performing Songwriter that he had the idea to write the lyrics about a man and a woman on the road after watching the Federico Fellini film On the street.
Janis Joplin, who had a close relationship with Kris Kristofferson, changed the lyrics to make Bobby McGee a man and did her version days before his death in 1970 from a drug overdose. The recording became a posthumous hit for Janis Joplin.
PHOTO FREDERIC J. BROWN, ARCHIVES AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Kris Kristofferson performing Me and Bobby McGee during the ceremony to award a posthumous star to Janis Joplin, in November 2013, in Hollywood
Hits that Kris Kristofferson has recorded include Why Me, Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do), Watch Closely Now, Desperados Waiting for a Train et Jesus Was a Capricorn.
In 1973, he married songwriter Rita Coolidge and together they had a successful duo career that earned them two Grammy Awards. They divorced in 1980.
He retired from performing and recording in 2021, making only occasional appearances on stage.
