Observer Time: September 29, 2024
Kris Kristofferson, the Rhodes Scholar with a penchant for writing and a fierce spirit who became a country music star and Hollywood actor, has died.
Kris Kristofferson died Saturday at his home in Maui, Hawaii, family spokeswoman Abby McFarland said in an email. He lived for 88 years.
McFarland said Christopherson died peacefully surrounded by his family. No reason was given.
The author of classics such as “Sunday Morning’ Comin’ Down,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “For the Good Times,” and “Me and Bobby McGee” began her career in Brownsville, Texas, in the late 1960s.
Despite being a singer, Kris Kristofferson’s songs were mostly performed by other artists, such as Ray Price singing “For the Good Times” and Janis Joplin belting out “Me and Bobby McGee.
In addition to his other roles, he was also cast as Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s 1974 film “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore,” and Barbra Streisand’s 1976 movie ” A Star Is Born”.
So today here at Observer Time we will discuss and observe the news of Kris Kristofferson’s death at the age of 88.
KRIS KRISTOFFERSON’S DEATH AT 88
He is known for his ability to recall words from poet William Blake, Kris Kristofferson blended intricate folk music lyrics about loneliness and tenderness with popular country music.
With his bell-bottomed slacks and long hair, he became a symbol of emergence as arguably the most innovative country songwriter in history Hall.
Kris Kristofferson was honored by Nelson at a BMI award ceremony in November 2009, with the announcement that it was due to his exceptional songwriting abilities. The standards he writes are universal and must be accepted by everyone.
His acting career included playing the lead role opposite Barbara Streisand and Ellen Burstyn, as well as shooting Westerns and cowboy dramas.
He was a member of the Golden Gloves boxer and football team during his college years.
He later earned an English master’s degree from Merton College at the University of Oxford in England but declined an offer to teach in the U.K.S.
The Military Academy at West Point, New York was chosen as a place to learn songwriting in Nashville. He worked at Columbia Records’ Music Row studio as a part-time janitor in 1966, to break into this industry, while Dylan produced tracks for the influential “Blonde on Blonde” double album.
There were moments when Kris Kristofferson’s legend overshadowed his personal life. The mostly exaggerated version of Cash’s story was how Kris Kristofferson, a former US Army pilot, dropped the helicopter on Cash’s lawn to give him “Sunday Morning’ Comin′ Down” tape with an ice-cold beer in one hand.
In interviews over the years, Kris Kristofferson respectfully told Cash that when he landed the helicopter at Cash’s house, the black man was not home at the time, and the demo tape was music that no one cut. He can’t fly a helicopter with beer.
In an interview with the Associated Press in 2006, he said that there would be no job without money. “Shaking his hand while I was still in the back of the Army at the Grand Ole Opry was when I decided to come back,” Kris Kristofferson said. “It was electric. He took me under his wing before he cut my music.
He broke my first record and it was the record of the year. He put me on stage for the first time.
One of his most recorded songs was “Me and Bobby McGee,” which was inspired by a recommendation from Fred Foster, the founder of Monument Records.
Despite the circumstances, Foster had a song named “Me and Bobby McKee” that he could recall after noticing a sexy female secretary in his building.
The magazine “Performing Songwriter” featured an interview where Kris Kristofferson revealed that his inspiration for the lyrics to a song about sex on ice came from watching La Strada, starring Frederico Fellini.
The day before she died in 1970 from a drug overdose, Joplin altered the lyrics to make Bobby McGee regress as if they were men. The recording became a posthumous No. 1 hit for Joplin.
The albums “Why Me,” “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do),”, and “Watch Closely Now” and the songs “Desperados Waiting for a Train,” as well as more recent tracks such as “A Song I’d Like to Sing” from 1991, feature Kris Kristofferson’s popular songs.
He and Rita Coolidge, a fellow songwriter, tied the knot in 1973 and went on to win two Grammy awards as duet performers. The couple got divorced in 1980.
He stopped playing and recording in 2021 and came on stage.
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