Singer-songwriter dies at 88: country star Kris Kristofferson is dead

Singer-songwriter dies at 88
Country star Kris Kristofferson is dead

September 30, 2024, 2:24 a.m

Instead of studying literature, Kris Kristofferson becomes a janitor at a record label. With this he begins a unique career as a singer, songwriter and country star. The poet has now died at the age of 88 surrounded by his family.

The US country singer Kris Kristofferson, who became one of the most influential American singer-songwriters of his time with works such as “Me and Bobby McGee” and was also a successful actor, is dead. He died on Saturday at the age of 88 , his family said. Kristofferson had suffered from memory loss since he was 70. A family spokesman said in a statement that Kristofferson died peacefully at his home in Maui, Hawaii, surrounded by his family. A cause of death was not given.

Kristofferson was an exceptional talent – an athlete with the sensitivity of a poet, a former army officer and helicopter pilot, a Rhodes Scholar who took a job as a janitor in what turned out to be a brilliant career move. He first established himself in the music world as a songwriter in the country music capital of Nashville, writing hits like the Grammy-winning “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “For the Good Times” and the No. 1 hit ” Me and Bobby McGee” by his former girlfriend Janis Joplin.

In the early 1970s he became known as an artist with a booming, unpolished baritone and also as a sought-after actor, particularly alongside Barbra Streisand in “A Star Is Born”, one of the most popular films of 1976. Kristofferson was considered one of the most important songwriters of all time. His songs have been sung by music legends such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Joan Baez, Willie Nelson, Janis Joplin and Ray Charles.

Born on June 22, 1936, in Brownsville, Texas, Kristofferson moved frequently because his father was a general in the Air Force. After graduating from Pomona College in California, where he played football and rugby, Kristofferson attended Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship and then followed the family tradition by joining the Army. He attended the Army’s elite Ranger School, learned to fly helicopters and achieved the rank of captain.

Janitor at Columbia Records

In 1965, Kristofferson was offered a position as an English teacher at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York – he was fascinated by the works of poet William Blake – but he turned it down to go to Nashville. Kristofferson became a janitor at the Columbia Records studio because it gave him the chance to pitch his songs to the big stars who were recording there. He also worked as a helicopter pilot, transporting workers between Louisiana’s oil fields and offshore drilling rigs.

During this time, Kristofferson wrote some of his most memorable songs, including “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” which he said he wrote on an oil rig. His boldest song idea came when he landed his helicopter on Johnny Cash’s lawn – although he disputed Cash’s version that he climbed out of the cockpit with a tape in one hand and a beer in the other. Cash later had a No. 1 hit with Kristofferson’s dirge “Sunday Morning Comin’ Down.”