Country music legend and “Blade” star Kris Kristofferson has died at 88

 

Grammy-winning country music artist and actor Kris Kristofferson has died at the age of 88.

In a statement posted on his official Facebook account, Kristofferson’s family said the musician died on Saturday.

“It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully,” read the statement released Sunday.

“We are all so lucky for the time we spent with him. Thank you for loving him all these years, and when you see a rainbow, know that he is smiling down on us all,” the statement added.

Kristofferson died “peacefully at his home in Maui, Hawaii,” his family said.

Kristofferson’s resume was eclectic: Rhodes scholar, U.S. Army veteran, pilot, Golden Gloves boxer and award-winning actor. But it was his famous songs – including “Me and Bobby McGee”, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” – that made him a music legend. No less a luminary than Bob Dylan was once quoted as saying of Kristofferson, “You can look at Nashville pre-Kris and post-Kris, because he changed everything.”

Born Kristoffer Kristofferson in the border town of Brownsville, Texas, on June 22, 1936, he earned a master’s degree from Oxford, moved to California, joined the Army and became a helicopter pilot – and began writing songs in parallel. Inspired by Dylan, he turned down an Army assignment to teach literature at West Point and moved to Nashville instead.

After struggling for several years and even working as a janitor at the same studio where Johnny Cash and Dylan recorded, Kristofferson got his break when established stars like Tom T. Hall, Ray Price, Roger Miller, Ray Stevens and Cash recorded his songs. Cash’s hit rendition of “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” helped him win the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year trophy in 1970, the same year Kristofferson released his debut solo album.

That album contained “Me and Bobby McGee,” which Janis Joplin recorded before her death in October 1970. It reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971 and is now known as her signature song.

In 1971, Kristofferson launched his acting career and, over the years, appeared in films such as “A Star Is Born,” which earned him a Golden Globe, and “Semi-Tough,” “Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid”, “The Disgraced Sailor with the Se”, “Lone Star” and “Blade”.

In 1985, Kristofferson joined his old friend Johnny Cash in the supergroup The Highwaymen, which also included Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. He also continued his solo career and toured non-stop until 2020. He was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and won numerous Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

When Nelson was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2023, he also supported Kristofferson’s induction from the stage. Kristofferson, who dated Joplin and once married fellow singer Rita Coolidge, also leaves behind his wife Lisa. as well as eight children from three marriages and seven grandchildren. [ABC News]

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