What a great loss. What a great writer. What a great actor. What a great friend.
So said Dolly Parton on learning that her friend Kris Kristofferson had passed away peacefully at his Hawaiian home, aged 88.
Kris Kristofferson was a singer, a writer, an actor, an intellectual, who's work and popularity spanned multiple genres. It seems from the comments that his friends have been making on his passing, that they considered him a warm, funny and gentlemanly person.
Kris Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, on 22 June 1936. He would go on to study writing at Pomona College in California, before being awarded a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship to Merton College at Oxford University. He got a Bachelors of Philosophy in English Literature, but his exploits extended well beyond the classroom, gaining a Blue in boxing and also representing the college in rugby. He also, unsuccessfully, tried to spark his singing career while in England, but his initial exploits (as Kris Carson) never got anywhere.
On his return to the States he joined the US Army, where he was enlisted to teach English to the troops, but a trip to Nashville in 1965 lured him away, and he quite the military and re-joined his quest to become a singing star.
Kris Kristofferson & Johnny Cash: Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down (On Johnny Cash Christmas Show, 1978)
The acting bug
He took on a number of film roles over the years, appearing in Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid, Lone Star, the Blade series and in 1985, was in Songwriter with Willie Nelson - for which the pair also got an Oscar nomination for the soundtrack. His finest movie moment was probably in 1976s A Star Is Born, which he starred in with Barbara Streisand, with got them an Oscar nomination for the love theme.
Three-Quarters of The Highwaymen gone
In 1985, four of the biggest names in outlaw country got together to form the country supergroup, The Highwaymen. Kristofferson, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings toured and recorded three albums over a ten year period. With his passing, only Nelson remains of the quartet.
The Highwaymen: Highwayman (Live at the Nassau Coliseum, 1990)
Family
Kristofferson was married to long-time girlfriend Fran Beer from 1961 to their divorce in 1969. He then briefly dated Janis Joplin before her untimely death in 1970. In 1973 he married fellow singer Rita Coolidge and that lasted through to 1980. He married his current wife, Lisa Meyers, in 1983, who was with him at his passing at their Maui home. He had two children with Beer, one with Coolidge and five with Meyers.
Kris and Sinead
I wanted to touch on his story with Sinead O'Connor, as I think it shows something about the kind of man he was.
In 1992, O'Connor was something of a persona non grata, especially in the US. Her appearance on Saturday Night Live had ended in controversy as she launched into an a cappella version of Bob Marley's War, changing the lyrics and ultimately ripping up a photo of the Pope, to protest at the issue of ongoing abuse in the Catholic church.
Just a few weeks later, she stepped on stage at Madison Square Garden, as part of a Bob Dylan tribute show. She was going to play his song I Believe In You. Kristofferson was the man in charge of introducing her: "[Sinead is an] artist whose name has become synonymous with courage and integrity." The crowd didn't agree, roundly booing her entrance. Kristofferson was urged to get her off the stage, but instead he went up and put his arm around her. He recalled on RTE's Saturday Night with Miriam in 2010, "I was not about to do that. I went out and I said 'Don't let the bastards get you down', and she said, 'I'm not down' and she sang. It was very courageous."
She then came on a sang his Help Me Make It Through The Night. He had recorded a song the previous year, Sister Sinead, for his album Closer To The Bone, to celebrate his friend's courage. O'Connor had been proved right when, in 2001, Pope John Paul II issued a letter of apology for historic abuses perpetrated by the church.
Kristofferson & O'Connor: Help Me Make It Through The Night (On Saturday Night with Miriam, 2010 - gosh this is beautiful.....)
Legacy
Many of Kristofferson's songs have been well known over the years, especially Me And Bobby McGee (covered by the likes of Janis Joplin, Roger Miller and Gordon Lightfoot), Help Me Make It Through The Night (covered by Gladys Knight and Willie Nelson) and Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down.
Melissa Etheridge said, "Loved this man, his talent, his mind and his beautiful heart."
A Star Is Born co-star Streisand simply said that she always "knew he was something special."
We'll leave it with the words of Leonard Cohen, that Kristofferson always said he wanted on his tombstone:
Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in the midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free (Leonard Cohen - Bird On The Wire)
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