Legendary songwriter Kris Kristofferson has died. The singer, songwriter, actor and nation and rock influencer was surrounded by household when he handed on Saturday (Sept. 28) at age 88.

No reason for demise was given however household expressed gratitude for his or her time with him and for his many followers. “Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all,” an announcement reads.

Kristoffer Kristofferson was born on June 22, 1936, in Brownsville, Texas. His father was a U.S. Army Air Corps officer, and the household moved continuously throughout his childhood, finally settling in San Mateo, Calif., the place Kristofferson graduated from highschool.

He enrolled in Pomona College in 1954, the place he was a star athlete, taking part in rugby and soccer and working observe and discipline. After graduating summa cum laude in 1958 with a BA in Literature, Kristofferson — who aspired to be a novelist — earned a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University, the place he first started taking part in music whereas finding out for a Master’s diploma in English Literature. He launched his first recordings for Top Rank Records beneath the title Kris Carson throughout that interval, which had been unsuccessful.

Though he needed to pursue writing and music, Kristofferson’s household pressured him to affix the navy, which he did after school, rising to the rank of Captain within the U.S. Army and changing into a Ranger. While stationed in West (*88*) within the early Sixties, Kristofferson shaped a band and resumed his curiosity in music, and when he was supplied a place educating English Literature at West Point, he determined as an alternative to go away the Army and transfer to Nashville to pursue songwriting full-time — a transfer that induced his household to disown him. They by no means reconciled.

Kristofferson labored odd jobs in Nashville, together with a gig as a janitor at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville, the place he met June Carter and gave her a tape to present to Johnny Cash. Weeks later, in a transfer that may turn into a Nashville legend, Kristofferson landed a helicopter on Cash’s garden to get his consideration, although opposite to in style delusion, he later stated Cash was not residence at the time. The daring transfer did get his consideration, and Cash lower one of many songs from the tape, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” which turned an enormous hit and received Kristofferson a CMA Award.

His songs now in demand, Kristofferson earned a slew of cuts as a songwriter over the following few years, together with traditional hits like Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Once More With Feeling,” Faron Young’s “Your Time’s Comin’,” “For the Good Times” by Ray Price, Waylon Jennings’ “The Taker” and Sami Smith’s rendition of “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” “For the Good Times” received the 1970 ACM Award for Song of the Year, whereas “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” took the identical title at that yr’s CMAs.

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Kristofferson launched a solo profession within the wake of that focus, releasing his self-titled debut album in 1970. It was initially unsuccessful, however turned successful when it was re-issued beneath the title Me & Bobby McGhee the next yr, after Janis Joplin scored a posthumous hit with that track. His second album, The Silver Tongued Devil and I, was successful, yielding the hit “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again), and while his third, Border Lord, was a commercial disappointment, Kristofferson’s fourth album, 1972’s Jesus Was a Capricorn, scored a success with “Why Me,” which went on to become one of his best-known songs.

Kristofferson spent the rest of the 1970s and most of the subsequent decades splitting his time between music and acting, starring in a long string of movies that included forgettable titles like Convoy and Vigilante Force, as well as bright spots including Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and A Star Is Born opposite Barbra Streisand, for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor. He continued to record and tour, though his un-commercial sound and increasing focus on writing about social issues meant his commercial peak was behind him.

In 1985 Kristofferson teamed with Willie Nelson, Jennings and Cash to form the Highwaymen, a supergroup that produced a successful album and earned Single of the Year honors at the ACM Awards for “Highwayman,” a Jimmy Webb song. The group recorded a second, less successful album in 1990. He returned to a period of less commercial success as a solo artist in the 1990s, but revitalized his movie career with appearances in films including the Blade trilogy, Planet of the Apes and Payback with Mel Gibson.

Widely considered one of the most important all-genre songwriters of all time, Kristofferson was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985, and the Country Music Hall of Fame followed suit in 2004. He received the BMI Icon Award in 2009, and in 2016 his career was the subject of an all-star tribute concert in Nashville that featured a Who’s Who of past and present country stars performing his songs live, at which Kristofferson himself appeared. He revealed that he was suffering from memory loss in 2013, but continued to act, write and record as his health allowed.

After decades of much-publicized alcohol and drugs, fighting and two failed marriages, the icon seemed to settle into a happy life after marrying his third wife, Lisa Meyers, in 1983. They had five children together, in addition to his three children from two previous marriages. In 2006 he teamed with producer Don Was for This Old Road, the first in a trilogy of albums that included 2009’s Closer to the Bone and culminated in 2013’s Feeling Mortal, a reflection on life, the passage of time and where he was in his life at the age of 76.

“Going back to the beginning, the songs have been reflections of where I was at that point in my life,” Kristofferson said in his official biography. “I always try to be as honest as I can in the songwriting, otherwise there’s no point in doing it: I might as well be doing an advertising job or something. And what I’m finding, to my pleasant surprise at this age, is that I’m more inclined to laughter than tears. I hope I’ll feel this creative and this grateful until they throw dirt over me.”

Kristofferson quietly retired from music in 2020 after one final, star-studded concert performance.

Among his most recent public appearances was last year’s Country Music Hall of Fame Medallion Ceremony where he helped welcome Tanya Tucker and more.

He did the same for Hank Williams Jr. in 2022. His last performance may have been at Willie Nelson’s birthday party in May 2023.

He leaves behind wife Lisa and eight children, plus seven grandchildren.