Kris Kristofferson
#
115
Ranking
Hall of Famer
BIRTHDATE
BIRTHPLACE
Brownsville
,
TX
,
USA
88
6
'
0
"
DIED
Kris Kristofferson was a Brownsville, Texas-born Rhodes Scholar, Army Ranger, and helicopter pilot who walked away from a West Point teaching post to sweep floors at a Nashville recording studio and became one of the greatest songwriters in American music history, penning classics including "Me and Bobby McGee," "Help Me Make It Through the Night," and "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" before earning a Country Music Hall of Fame induction, a parallel Hollywood career, and a place in the Highwaymen supergroup alongside Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings, until his peaceful passing at home in Maui on September 28, 2024, at age 88.
Current Tour & Setlist
Kristofferson continued to record and perform sporadically into his late seventies, releasing his final studio album "Feeling Mortal" in 2013 before a frightening misdiagnosis of Alzheimer's disease that turned out to be Lyme's disease slowed him further, and he gave his final performances around 2021 before retiring to his home in Maui, Hawaii, where he passed away peacefully on September 28, 2024, at age 88, surrounded by his wife Lisa and their family. His legacy as a songwriter is virtually unmatched in country music history, with artists including Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Janis Joplin all recording his songs, and his influence on outlaw country and the broader American songwriting tradition continues to be felt in the work of artists from Chris Stapleton to Zach Bryan.
Early Life
Born Kristoffer Kristofferson on June 22, 1936, in Brownsville, Texas, to a family with deep military roots on both sides, including a father who rose to the rank of Air Force Major General, he grew up speaking Spanish before English along the Mexican border before his family relocated to San Mateo, California, where he became a Golden Gloves boxer, a rugby player, and a Phi Beta Kappa honor student who won the prestigious Atlantic Monthly collegiate short story contest in college. At Oxford, where he studied English literature on a Rhodes Scholarship at Merton College, he began writing songs in his spare time under the influence of the poet William Blake, whose commitment to personal freedom and artistic authenticity became a guiding philosophy that Kristofferson later credited with helping him walk away from one of the most promising conventional careers of his generation.
Career Highlights
After earning his master's degree from Oxford, Kristofferson joined the U.S. Army, trained as a Ranger and helicopter pilot, and was offered a coveted position as an English instructor at West Point in 1965, a moment he chose to walk away from entirely to pursue songwriting in Nashville, a decision that left his military family devastated and forced him to work as a janitor at Columbia Recording Studios just to stay close to the industry. His determination paid off when Johnny Cash recorded his "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down," which hit number one and won the CMA Song of the Year in 1970, opening the floodgates for a string of classics including "Me and Bobby McGee," recorded posthumously by Janis Joplin and reaching number one pop, "Help Me Make It Through the Night," and "For the Good Times," all within the same twelve-month period. As a songwriter alone Kristofferson transformed the language of country music, and he went on to a parallel film career that included iconic roles in "Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid," "A Star Is Born," and the "Blade" trilogy, while also joining Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings as a founding member of the Highwaymen supergroup and earning induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004.
Family & Personal Life
Kristofferson was married three times: to his high school sweetheart Frances Beer (1961 to 1969) with whom he had daughter Tracy and son Kris Jr., to country singer Rita Coolidge (1973 to 1980) with whom he had daughter Casey, and finally to law student Lisa Meyers, whom he met in 1982 at a Malibu gym just after his second divorce and married in February 1983, remaining together for 41 years until his death. He and Lisa had five children together, Jesse, Jody, Johnny, Kelly Marie, and Blake, giving him eight children in total across three marriages, and he told NPR in 2013 that he felt nothing but gratitude for being old and above ground, living with the people he loved, with a wife who kept him out of trouble.
Awards
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