BREAKING: Kris Kristofferson dead as tributes paid to legendary country music star and actor

Larger than beingness megastar Kris Kristofferson lifed an amazingly afloat beingness including having gangly tales told astir him by Johnny Cash and being described arsenic the champion songwriter live by Willie Nelson

Country euphony superstar and Hollywood histrion Kris Kristofferson has died.

The Rhodes student with a deft penning benignant and unsmooth charisma who became a state euphony superstar and A-list Hollywood histrion died astatine his location connected Maui, Hawaii connected Saturday, household spokeswoman Ebie McFarland said successful an email. He was 88.

McFarland said Kristofferson died peacefully, surrounded by his family. No origin was given.

Starting successful the precocious 1960s, the Brownsville, Texas autochthonal wrote specified classics standards arsenic "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down," "Help Me Make it Through the Night," "For the Good Times" and "Me and Bobby McGee." Kristofferson was a vocalist himself, but galore of his songs were champion known arsenic performed by others, whether Ray Price crooning "For the Good Times" oregon Janis Joplin belting retired "Me and Bobby McGee."

He besides starred other Ellen Burstyn successful manager Martin Scorsese's 1974 movie "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," starred other Barbra Streisand successful the 1976 "A Star Is Born," and acted alongside Wesley Snipes successful Marvel's "Blade" successful 1998.

Kristofferson, who could recite William Blake from memory, wove intricate people euphony lyrics astir loneliness and tender romance into fashionable state music. With his agelong hairsbreadth and bell-bottomed slacks and counterculture songs influenced by Bob Dylan, helium represented a caller breed of state songwriters on with specified peers arsenic Willie Nelson, John Prine and Tom T. Hall.

"There's nary amended songwriter live than Kris Kristofferson," Nelson said during a November 2009 grant ceremonial for Kristofferson held by BMI. "Everything helium writes is simply a modular and we're each conscionable going to person to unrecorded with that."

He was a Golden Gloves boxer and shot subordinate successful college, received a master's grade successful English from Merton College astatine the University of Oxford successful England and turned down an assignment to thatch astatine the U.S. Military Academy astatine West Point, New York, to prosecute songwriting successful Nashville. Hoping to interruption into the industry, helium worked arsenic a part-time janitor astatine Columbia Records' Music Row workplace successful 1966 erstwhile Dylan recorded tracks for the seminal "Blonde connected Blonde" treble album.

At times, the fable of Kristofferson was larger than existent life. Johnny Cash liked to archer a mostly exaggerated communicative of however Kristofferson, a erstwhile U.S. Army pilot, landed a chopper connected Cash's tract to springiness him a portion of "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" with a brew successful 1 hand. Over the years successful interviews, Kristofferson said with each respect to Cash, portion helium did onshore a chopper astatine Cash's house, the Man successful Black wasn't adjacent location astatine the time, the demo portion was a opus that nary 1 ever really chopped and helium surely couldn't alert a chopper holding a beer.

In a 2006 interrogation with The Associated Press, helium said helium mightiness not person had a vocation without Cash.

"Shaking his manus erstwhile I was inactive successful the Army backstage astatine the Grand Ole Opry was the infinitesimal I'd decided I'd travel back," Kristofferson said. "It was electric. He benignant of took maine nether his helping earlier helium chopped immoderate of my songs. He chopped my archetypal grounds that was grounds of the year. He enactment maine connected signifier the archetypal time."

One of his astir recorded songs, "Me and Bobby McGee," was written based connected a proposal from Monument Records laminitis Fred Foster. Foster had a opus rubric successful his caput called "Me and Bobby McKee," named aft a pistillate caput successful his building. Kristofferson said successful an interrogation successful the magazine, "Performing Songwriter," that helium was inspired to constitute the lyrics astir a antheral and pistillate connected the roadworthy unneurotic aft watching the Frederico Fellini film, "La Strada."

Joplin, who had a adjacent narration with Kristofferson, changed the lyrics to marque Bobby McGee a antheral and chopped her mentation conscionable days earlier she died successful 1970 from a cause overdose. The signaling became a posthumous No. 1 deed for Joplin.
Hits that Kristofferson recorded see "Why Me," "Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do)," "Watch Closely Now," "Desperados Waiting for a Train," "A Song I'd Like to Sing" and "Jesus Was a Capricorn."

In 1973, helium joined chap songwriter Rita Coolidge and unneurotic they had a palmy duet vocation that earned them 2 Grammy awards. They divorced successful 1980.
He retired from performing and signaling successful 2021, making lone occasional impermanent appearances connected stage.