Kris Kristofferson Has Died

Hot Press is sad to learn tonight of the death of the great American singer, songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson. He was aged 88.

Born in Brownsville, Texas, Kris was a high-achieving young academic, winning a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford, before he became a songwriter. Born in 1936, he was 34 when he achieved his breakthrough, when he succeeded in attracting the attention of Johnny Cash, who recorded ’Sunday Morning Coming Down’ in 1970.

That was the first in a string of big songs that he wrote, providing hits for other performers – and in his capacity as a solo artist – including songs like ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ and ‘Help Me Make It Through The Night’. He was a multiple Grammy Award winner and, in addition to his solo work, had hits duetting with Rita Coolidge and with the country supergroup The Highwaymen.

He won a Golden Globe as Best Actor In A Musical for his performance in A Star Is Born – just one of a long list of successful acting roles, in Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Blume in Love (1973), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), A Star Is Born (1976), Convoy (1978), Heaven's Gate (1980), Stagecoach (1986), Lone Star (1996), and the Blade film trilogy (1998–2004). Kristofferson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004.

“He was one of the greats,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes said. “I remember the first time I heard him sing and he had a lovely, cracked, natural tone that carried a real depth of emotion. We used to sing ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ in Eyeless – and it is one of the songs that I still sing regularly. But he wrote a lot of beautiful and memorable material that any songwriter would be proud to have to their name.

“He will always be remembered in Ireland as the man who stood by Sinead O’Connor when the audience turned on her at the Bob Dylan tribute gig in New York in 1992. That was typical of the man. He had a real depth of intelligence, but also of feeling and empathy. He was one of the genuinely good guys.”

His family conformed his death, announcing that he had passed away peacefully at home on Saturday.

“We’re all so blessed for our time with him,” a statement, which was signed by his wife Lisa, his eight children and seven grandchildren said. “Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all.”

He is survived by his third wife, Lisa Meyers, who he married in 1983 and had five children with, adding to three other children from his first two marriages. He had previously been married to Fran Beer in 1960. He subsequently married singer Rita Coolidge in 1973, and their duets album that year, Full Moon, became one of Kristofferson’s biggest hits, winning an array of awards and crossing over into the pop charts.