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On June 22, 1936, Kris Kristofferson, American singer/actor, was born in Brownsville, Texas. He is a fellow 8th Infantry Division vet.
"Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson Biography
Singer, Songwriter (1936–)
Singer, songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson made it big with country songs like "Me and Bobby McGee" before starting his film career.
Synopsis
Born in Texas in 1936, Kris Kristofferson excelled in academics and began a successful career in the U.S. Army before pursuing his passion as a songwriter. After a slow start, he began to make progress when artists such as Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis began to record his songs. His big breakthrough came in 1971, when Janis Joplin’s version of his song “Me and Bobby McGee” reached the top of the charts. Around the same time, Kristofferson launched a successful career as an television and film actor as well, with memorable roles in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, A Star Is Born, Lone Star and the Blade films. Simultaneously maintaining his legendary career as a songwriter and performer, he has won several Grammy Awards, been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Country Music Hall of Fame and has seen his songs at the top of the charts throughout much of his life.
Golden Idol
Kris Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, on June 22, 1936 as the first of three children in a conservative military family. When Kristofferson was a boy, the family moved around often but eventually settled in San Mateo, California, when he was in junior high. After graduating from high school in 1954, Kristofferson attended Pomona College in Southern California, where he focused on creative writing and the poetry of William Blake. Demonstrating the talent that would serve him well later in his life, Kristofferson won several awards for his work, including first prize in a short-story contest held by The Atlantic Monthly. He also played football for the school and was a Golden Gloves boxer.
When Kristofferson graduated from college in 1958, he had earned his bachelor’s degree with honors and also won a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford University. He moved to England later that year to pursue his master’s degree in literature. He also started writing songs, and was soon performing at local clubs as Kris Carson. Though he eventually recorded a few songs for a small label, they failed to gain him recognition, and he returned home after completing his studies. He then resumed a relationship with his high school girlfriend, Frances Beer, and they soon got married.
Now standing at a crossroads in his life, Kristofferson chose to change direction, eschewing further academic pursuits to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the military. He enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he was trained as a Ranger and helicopter pilot before being stationed in West Germany. During his service, however, he held on to his love of writing and music and eventually organized a soldiers’ band that performed at various functions.
By 1965, Kristofferson had achieved the rank of captain and was offered a position as an English instructor at the West Point military academy. However, after taking a trip to the musical mecca of Nashville that June, he decided to change the course of his life once more, rejecting his job offer, resigning from the military and setting off to become a country music songwriter.
It’s Never Gonna Be the Same Again
But Kristofferson’s chosen path was not an easy one. His parents were so distressed by his decision that their relationship with him became severely strained; he did not speak to his mother for more than 20 years. And though Kristofferson signed with the publisher Bighorn Music shortly after moving his wife and young daughter (Tracy, born in 1962) to Nashville, the meager income it brought necessitated that he work a range of odd jobs over the next several years.
During this period, Kristofferson did make some progress, as other artists recorded his songs such as “Viet Nam Blues” and “Jody and the Kid” and made it onto the country charts. However, his debut single as a performer, 1967's “Golden Idol,” fared less well; it failed to chart. Kristofferson’s struggles intensified in 1968, when his second child, Kris, was born with health problems that led to soaring medical bills.
But through it all, Kristofferson’s talents as a songwriter only grew stronger, and in 1969, his fortune begin to change when Roger Miller’s cover of his song “Me and Bobby McGee” reached the country Top 20. His songs also drew the attention of Johnny Cash, to whom Kristofferson personally delivered one by landing a helicopter in Cash’s yard. Kristofferson’s bravado would lead to Cash having him as a guest on his television show and also introducing him at the Newport Folk Festival, giving Kristofferson’s career a much-needed lift and bringing him to the brink of one of his most successful eras.
Coming Down, Going Up
In 1970, Kristofferson release his debut self-titled album, supporting it with major shows at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, the Isle of Wight Festival in England and the Bitter End in New York City. Though it proved a critical and commercial failure, cover versions of his songs began to fill the country charts, including Waylon Jennings’s version of “The Taker”—one of several songs co-written by Kristofferson and author Shel Silverstein—Jerry Lee Lewis’s recording of “Once More with Feeling” and Sammi Smith’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” By the end of the year, Ray Price’s version of his “For the Good Times” and Johnny Cash’s rendition of “Sunday Morning Coming Down” had both reached No. 1, crossed over into the pop Top 20 and received Song of the Year awards from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.
But Kristofferson’s true breakthrough would come the following year, when Janis Joplin’s posthumously released album, Pearl, featured her cover of “Me and Bobby McGee.” The song reached No. 1 on the pop charts that March and gave both Joplin and Kristofferson—who had been romantically involved for a time—their biggest hits ever. The song has since been recorded by many other artists over the years, including Kenny Rogers, Chet Atkins, Olivia Newton-John and Dolly Parton. The smash success of “Me and Bobby McGee” helped boost sales of Kristofferson’s next album, The Silver Tongued Devil and I—which eventually went gold—and also prompted his label to rerelease his first album, this time with much greater results.
By the end of 1971, Kristofferson had gone from virtual obscurity to songwriting stardom, with three of his titles up for multiple Grammy Awards. Kristofferson won Best Country Song for “Help Me Make It Through the Night.”
A Star Is Born
At the same time Kristofferson was making his name as a songwriter, he also began what would prove to be a successful career as an actor. Beginning with the Dennis Hopper–directed drama The Last Movie (1971), Kristofferson would appear on the big screen as often as he released albums, at times even eclipsing his musical offerings with his films, to which he often contributed songs to as well. His credits during the early 1970s include a starring role opposite Gene Hackman in Cisco Pike (1972), his portrayal of Billy the Kid in Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (1973) and a co-starring role opposite Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974). He also released the albums Border Lord and Spooky Lady’s Sideshow, but neither performed especially well. He did, however, have a No. 1 country single with “Why Me” (1973).
This also proved to be a period of change in Kristofferson’s personal life. The same year “Why Me” topped the country charts, he and Frances Beer divorced, and soon thereafter he married singer Rita Coolidge. Kristofferson and Coolidge had one daughter together (Casey, born in 1974) and also recorded a successful string of duo albums. Their 1973 album, Full Moon, produced the gold record “A Song I’d Like to Sing” and the Grammy Award–winning “From the Bottle to the Bottom,” and 1974’s Breakaway contained the Grammy-winning “Lover Please.”
Kristofferson ushered in the latter half of the decade by releasing the albums Who’s to Bless and Who’s to Blame and Surreal Thing, both of which made the country charts but did not cross over to pop. He also appeared in the films Vigilante and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. However, his best-known work from this era—though perhaps not his best—was his performance as an aging rock star opposite Barbra Streisand in the 1976 remake of A Star Is Born. Panned by critics, A Star Is Born was nonetheless a box-office smash, and the soundtrack, which featured songs by Kristofferson, topped the pop charts and went on to sell several million copies. Kristofferson also won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role in the film.
In the wake of this success, Kristofferson closed out the decade with the albums Easter Island and Shake Hands with the Devil, as well as Natural Act, the last he would record with Coolidge; they divorced in late 1979. During this time, he also appeared in Peckinpah’s Convoy and the ill-fated Michael Cimino picture, Heaven’s Gate (1980). However, cover versions of his songs continued to find success, including those sung by fellow country singer Willie Nelson, who went on to collaborate with Kristofferson on some of his most memorable work in the coming decade.
Highwayman
As had been the case during much of his career, the 1980s and 1990s would be a mix of highs, lows and significant changes in Kristofferson's personal life. His albums To the Bone (1981), Third World Warrior (1990) and the Don Was–produced A Moment of Forever (1995) all failed to make the charts. His film acting work suffered significantly as well, with Kristofferson appearing primarily in (often-forgettable) made-for-TV movies.
But at the same time, Kristofferson was beginning new, more fruitful projects and continued to receive recognition for his work. His 1983 collaboration with Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Brenda Lee and others, The Winning Hand, reached the top of the country charts, and the 1984 Nashville film Songwriter—for which Kristofferson contributed songs and starred in alongside Nelson—earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Music (Original Song Score) in 1985. That same year, Kristofferson was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and he ventured out with country supergroup the Highwaymen, which also featured Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. Titled Highwayman, the debut album was released to great acclaim, topping the country charts, going gold and producing several hit singles. Their subsequent albums, Highwayman 2 (1990) and The Road Goes on Forever (1995) would prove moderately successful as well.
In 1983, Kristofferson married attorney Lisa Meyers. The couple has five children (Jesse, Jody, Johnny, Kelly and Blake) who were born between 1984 to 1994. They eventually moved to a large estate on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
Lone Star
In 1996, Kristofferson experienced yet another revival in his career when he was cast as the sheriff Charlie Wade in the acclaimed John Sayles film Lone Star, which also featured Matthew McConaughey. Roles in more prominent films were soon to follow, with Kristofferson appearing in the Blade vampire movies, the family drama A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, the Mel Gibson vehicle Payback and Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes (2001). Among many other film and television roles, his recent credits include the 2012 indie drama The Motel Life and the 2016 western Traded.
Kristofferson’s more recent musical endeavors have fared better as well, with the albums This Old Road (2006), Closer to the Bone (2009) and Feeling Mortal (2013)—his 28th album—all making the country Top 40. In 2004, he was honored with induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame and in 2014, he received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.
Around this same time, Kristofferson publicly revealed that he was suffering from a form of dementia akin to Alzheimer’s—known as pugilistica—which doctors attributed to the his time as a football player and boxer earlier in his life. However, a test for Lyme disease earlier this year came back positive, so he traded his Alzheimer's and depression medication for three weeks of Lyme-disease treatment. Though he still has some memory issues, the change has been dramatically positive. Kristofferson continues to tour extensively and a box set of his first 11 albums, The Complete Monument & Columbia Album Collection, was released on June 10."
"Kris Kristofferson
Kris Kristofferson Biography
Singer, Songwriter (1936–)
Singer, songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson made it big with country songs like "Me and Bobby McGee" before starting his film career.
Synopsis
Born in Texas in 1936, Kris Kristofferson excelled in academics and began a successful career in the U.S. Army before pursuing his passion as a songwriter. After a slow start, he began to make progress when artists such as Johnny Cash and Jerry Lee Lewis began to record his songs. His big breakthrough came in 1971, when Janis Joplin’s version of his song “Me and Bobby McGee” reached the top of the charts. Around the same time, Kristofferson launched a successful career as an television and film actor as well, with memorable roles in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, A Star Is Born, Lone Star and the Blade films. Simultaneously maintaining his legendary career as a songwriter and performer, he has won several Grammy Awards, been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and Country Music Hall of Fame and has seen his songs at the top of the charts throughout much of his life.
Golden Idol
Kris Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, on June 22, 1936 as the first of three children in a conservative military family. When Kristofferson was a boy, the family moved around often but eventually settled in San Mateo, California, when he was in junior high. After graduating from high school in 1954, Kristofferson attended Pomona College in Southern California, where he focused on creative writing and the poetry of William Blake. Demonstrating the talent that would serve him well later in his life, Kristofferson won several awards for his work, including first prize in a short-story contest held by The Atlantic Monthly. He also played football for the school and was a Golden Gloves boxer.
When Kristofferson graduated from college in 1958, he had earned his bachelor’s degree with honors and also won a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford University. He moved to England later that year to pursue his master’s degree in literature. He also started writing songs, and was soon performing at local clubs as Kris Carson. Though he eventually recorded a few songs for a small label, they failed to gain him recognition, and he returned home after completing his studies. He then resumed a relationship with his high school girlfriend, Frances Beer, and they soon got married.
Now standing at a crossroads in his life, Kristofferson chose to change direction, eschewing further academic pursuits to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the military. He enlisted in the U.S. Army, where he was trained as a Ranger and helicopter pilot before being stationed in West Germany. During his service, however, he held on to his love of writing and music and eventually organized a soldiers’ band that performed at various functions.
By 1965, Kristofferson had achieved the rank of captain and was offered a position as an English instructor at the West Point military academy. However, after taking a trip to the musical mecca of Nashville that June, he decided to change the course of his life once more, rejecting his job offer, resigning from the military and setting off to become a country music songwriter.
It’s Never Gonna Be the Same Again
But Kristofferson’s chosen path was not an easy one. His parents were so distressed by his decision that their relationship with him became severely strained; he did not speak to his mother for more than 20 years. And though Kristofferson signed with the publisher Bighorn Music shortly after moving his wife and young daughter (Tracy, born in 1962) to Nashville, the meager income it brought necessitated that he work a range of odd jobs over the next several years.
During this period, Kristofferson did make some progress, as other artists recorded his songs such as “Viet Nam Blues” and “Jody and the Kid” and made it onto the country charts. However, his debut single as a performer, 1967's “Golden Idol,” fared less well; it failed to chart. Kristofferson’s struggles intensified in 1968, when his second child, Kris, was born with health problems that led to soaring medical bills.
But through it all, Kristofferson’s talents as a songwriter only grew stronger, and in 1969, his fortune begin to change when Roger Miller’s cover of his song “Me and Bobby McGee” reached the country Top 20. His songs also drew the attention of Johnny Cash, to whom Kristofferson personally delivered one by landing a helicopter in Cash’s yard. Kristofferson’s bravado would lead to Cash having him as a guest on his television show and also introducing him at the Newport Folk Festival, giving Kristofferson’s career a much-needed lift and bringing him to the brink of one of his most successful eras.
Coming Down, Going Up
In 1970, Kristofferson release his debut self-titled album, supporting it with major shows at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, the Isle of Wight Festival in England and the Bitter End in New York City. Though it proved a critical and commercial failure, cover versions of his songs began to fill the country charts, including Waylon Jennings’s version of “The Taker”—one of several songs co-written by Kristofferson and author Shel Silverstein—Jerry Lee Lewis’s recording of “Once More with Feeling” and Sammi Smith’s “Help Me Make It Through the Night.” By the end of the year, Ray Price’s version of his “For the Good Times” and Johnny Cash’s rendition of “Sunday Morning Coming Down” had both reached No. 1, crossed over into the pop Top 20 and received Song of the Year awards from the Academy of Country Music and the Country Music Association.
But Kristofferson’s true breakthrough would come the following year, when Janis Joplin’s posthumously released album, Pearl, featured her cover of “Me and Bobby McGee.” The song reached No. 1 on the pop charts that March and gave both Joplin and Kristofferson—who had been romantically involved for a time—their biggest hits ever. The song has since been recorded by many other artists over the years, including Kenny Rogers, Chet Atkins, Olivia Newton-John and Dolly Parton. The smash success of “Me and Bobby McGee” helped boost sales of Kristofferson’s next album, The Silver Tongued Devil and I—which eventually went gold—and also prompted his label to rerelease his first album, this time with much greater results.
By the end of 1971, Kristofferson had gone from virtual obscurity to songwriting stardom, with three of his titles up for multiple Grammy Awards. Kristofferson won Best Country Song for “Help Me Make It Through the Night.”
A Star Is Born
At the same time Kristofferson was making his name as a songwriter, he also began what would prove to be a successful career as an actor. Beginning with the Dennis Hopper–directed drama The Last Movie (1971), Kristofferson would appear on the big screen as often as he released albums, at times even eclipsing his musical offerings with his films, to which he often contributed songs to as well. His credits during the early 1970s include a starring role opposite Gene Hackman in Cisco Pike (1972), his portrayal of Billy the Kid in Sam Peckinpah’s Pat Garret and Billy the Kid (1973) and a co-starring role opposite Ellen Burstyn in Martin Scorsese’s Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974). He also released the albums Border Lord and Spooky Lady’s Sideshow, but neither performed especially well. He did, however, have a No. 1 country single with “Why Me” (1973).
This also proved to be a period of change in Kristofferson’s personal life. The same year “Why Me” topped the country charts, he and Frances Beer divorced, and soon thereafter he married singer Rita Coolidge. Kristofferson and Coolidge had one daughter together (Casey, born in 1974) and also recorded a successful string of duo albums. Their 1973 album, Full Moon, produced the gold record “A Song I’d Like to Sing” and the Grammy Award–winning “From the Bottle to the Bottom,” and 1974’s Breakaway contained the Grammy-winning “Lover Please.”
Kristofferson ushered in the latter half of the decade by releasing the albums Who’s to Bless and Who’s to Blame and Surreal Thing, both of which made the country charts but did not cross over to pop. He also appeared in the films Vigilante and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea. However, his best-known work from this era—though perhaps not his best—was his performance as an aging rock star opposite Barbra Streisand in the 1976 remake of A Star Is Born. Panned by critics, A Star Is Born was nonetheless a box-office smash, and the soundtrack, which featured songs by Kristofferson, topped the pop charts and went on to sell several million copies. Kristofferson also won the Golden Globe for Best Actor for his role in the film.
In the wake of this success, Kristofferson closed out the decade with the albums Easter Island and Shake Hands with the Devil, as well as Natural Act, the last he would record with Coolidge; they divorced in late 1979. During this time, he also appeared in Peckinpah’s Convoy and the ill-fated Michael Cimino picture, Heaven’s Gate (1980). However, cover versions of his songs continued to find success, including those sung by fellow country singer Willie Nelson, who went on to collaborate with Kristofferson on some of his most memorable work in the coming decade.
Highwayman
As had been the case during much of his career, the 1980s and 1990s would be a mix of highs, lows and significant changes in Kristofferson's personal life. His albums To the Bone (1981), Third World Warrior (1990) and the Don Was–produced A Moment of Forever (1995) all failed to make the charts. His film acting work suffered significantly as well, with Kristofferson appearing primarily in (often-forgettable) made-for-TV movies.
But at the same time, Kristofferson was beginning new, more fruitful projects and continued to receive recognition for his work. His 1983 collaboration with Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Brenda Lee and others, The Winning Hand, reached the top of the country charts, and the 1984 Nashville film Songwriter—for which Kristofferson contributed songs and starred in alongside Nelson—earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Music (Original Song Score) in 1985. That same year, Kristofferson was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and he ventured out with country supergroup the Highwaymen, which also featured Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings. Titled Highwayman, the debut album was released to great acclaim, topping the country charts, going gold and producing several hit singles. Their subsequent albums, Highwayman 2 (1990) and The Road Goes on Forever (1995) would prove moderately successful as well.
In 1983, Kristofferson married attorney Lisa Meyers. The couple has five children (Jesse, Jody, Johnny, Kelly and Blake) who were born between 1984 to 1994. They eventually moved to a large estate on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
Lone Star
In 1996, Kristofferson experienced yet another revival in his career when he was cast as the sheriff Charlie Wade in the acclaimed John Sayles film Lone Star, which also featured Matthew McConaughey. Roles in more prominent films were soon to follow, with Kristofferson appearing in the Blade vampire movies, the family drama A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries, the Mel Gibson vehicle Payback and Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes (2001). Among many other film and television roles, his recent credits include the 2012 indie drama The Motel Life and the 2016 western Traded.
Kristofferson’s more recent musical endeavors have fared better as well, with the albums This Old Road (2006), Closer to the Bone (2009) and Feeling Mortal (2013)—his 28th album—all making the country Top 40. In 2004, he was honored with induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame and in 2014, he received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.
Around this same time, Kristofferson publicly revealed that he was suffering from a form of dementia akin to Alzheimer’s—known as pugilistica—which doctors attributed to the his time as a football player and boxer earlier in his life. However, a test for Lyme disease earlier this year came back positive, so he traded his Alzheimer's and depression medication for three weeks of Lyme-disease treatment. Though he still has some memory issues, the change has been dramatically positive. Kristofferson continues to tour extensively and a box set of his first 11 albums, The Complete Monument & Columbia Album Collection, was released on June 10."
Kris Kristofferson
Posted from biography.com
American History
Military History
Literature
Writer
Country Music
Posted >1 y ago
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Kristofferson is a very talented singer, songwriter, actor and musician.
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Kris Kristofferson FULL LENGTH INTERVIEW
Kris talks about everything from Music to Movies! You can buy their records anywhere... but these interviews are one on one personal in-depth stories that wi...
Thank you, my friend SGT (Join to see) for making us aware that June 22 is the anniversary of the birth of son of U.S. Air Force Major General, Rhodes Scholar, U.S. soldier rising to the rank of Captain, American actor and singer-songwriter Kristoffer Kristofferson.
Happy 83rd birthday Kristoffer Kristofferson and hopefully your memory has not faded away completely.
Kris Kristofferson FULL LENGTH INTERVIEW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc84DMbQxbU
Images:
1. Kris Kristopherson served in the army as a helicopter pilot, eventually being promoted to Captain
2. Kris Kristofferson army airborne school
3. Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson.
4. 1976 Kris Kristopherson was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Actor in A Star Is Born
Background from savingcountrymusic.com/10-badass-kris-kristofferson-moments/
"10 Badass Kris Kristofferson Moments
Kris Kristofferson may have never shot anyone or spent time in prison, but when you look at his life and accomplishments, it is an absolute marvel of the American experience. From starting off as a Rhodes Scholar, to becoming a helicopter pilot in the Army, to being responsible for a Hall of Fame career in country, to becoming a Hollywood superstar and dating singers and actors to making daring moves to further his career, Kris Kristofferson is not just a country music badass, he’s one of the most badass Americans to ever be born.
1. Becoming a Rhodes Scholar
Kris Kristofferson is a smart one to say the least. The Rhodes Scholarship is an Oxford University postgraduate distinction that is considered the world’s most prestigious academic scholarship and scholastic accolade. Created in 1902, and the first international scholarship program of its kind, Rhodes Scholars are considered to have any job available to them throughout their lives, and many have gone on to be Presidents, Prime Ministers, and prominent business leaders. Only about 80 scholars are selected each year from around the world, and Kris Kristofferson was one of them to be bestowed with the Rhodes Scholar honor in 1958. While at Oxford, Kristofferson studied literature at Merton College—the same college J.R.R. Tolkien was a professor at during the period. Kristofferson also earned his “Blue” in boxing as a collegiate athlete.
It was at Oxford that Kristofferson first tried his hand in the music business. He recorded for a label called Top Rank Records under the name Kris Carson, and was dubbed the “Yank at Oxford”. But the pursuit didn’t go anywhere after a record company in the United States claimed they owned Kristofferson’s rights.
2. Flying Helicopters as a Captain in the Army
Possibly country music’s most well-known veteran, Kris Kristofferson came from a strong military family. After college at Oxford, his parents pushed him to enlist and Kristofferson went into the United States Army as an officer, attending Ranger school and achieving the rank of Captain as a helicopter pilot. Kristofferson received his training at Fort Rucker, Alabama before being deployed to West Germany as part of the 8th Infantry Division. After serving out his tour of duty, Kristofferson was scheduled to become an English Literature professor at West Point, but decided to pursue a career in songwriting instead. The American Veterans Awards named Kris Kristofferson “Veteran of the Year” in 2003. His first successful songwriting hit was called “Viet Nam Blues” originally recorded by Dave Dudley.
Kristofferson later flew helicopters commercially, especially in Louisiana, traveling back to Nashville to pitch songs. He wrote “Help Me Make It Through The Night” on an oil platform in the gulf, and “Me & Bobby McGee” also while in Louisiana.
3. Taking a Janitor Position to Help Become a Songwriter
Being from a proud military family, Kris Kristofferson was not only expected to do his duty to his country during his youth, but to follow a military career throughout his life. Flying helicopters and spending five years in the military apparently wasn’t enough, and when Kris relayed his plans to move to Nashville and become a songwriter, Kristofferson’s family officially disowned him. They never completely reconciled.
Cut off from his support network, Kris Kristofferson struggled. This Rhodes Scholar and Oxford graduate that could fly helicopters resorted to taking a janitorial position at the studios of Columbia Records simply to be one step closer to his dream of becoming a songwriter. Kristofferson was in the studio when Bob Dylan was cutting his album Blonde on Blonde, but was too bashful to approach him. He did get the courage to befriend Johnny Cash, who was warm to Kristofferson and considered some of his songs, but never took the young songwriter seriously until….
4. Landing a Helicopter on Johnny Cash’s Lawn to Deliver Demos
johnny-cash-kris-kristoffersonAt the time, Kristofferson was working as a janitor at the offices of Columbia Records where Johnny Cash was signed. Kristofferson had met Cash a number of times, in the studio and backstage at The Grand Ole Opry, but Cash wouldn’t show any attention to young Kristofferson’s songwriting aspirations. Kris would slip Cash demos of his work, or give them to June Carter or Luther Perkins when he had a chance, but according to Cash, he would take them home to the Hendersonville house and toss them into Old Hickory Lake.
Kristofferson took part-time work with the National Guard to help pay bills, and desperate to get Johnny Cash’s attention, decided to deviate from his flight plan while on a training run and land his helicopter in the Hendersonville property’s front yard. What happened next depends on who you ask. According to Cash, Kristofferson came sauntering out of the helicopter with a beer in one hand, and his demo tapes in another, demanding to be heard. But Kristofferson paints a more subdued picture. “Y’know, John had a very creative imagination,” Kristofferson recalled. “I’ve never flown with a beer in my life. Believe me, you need two hands to fly those things.” In fact Kristofferson doesn’t even remember Cash being at the house at the time, though he does say, “I still think I was lucky he didn’t shoot me that day!”
What was the result of Kris Kristofferson’s aeronautical attention grab? It got Johnny Cash to invite him up on stage at the Newport Folk Festival later that year, which put Kris Kristofferson on the country music map.
5. Writing “Sunday Morning Coming Down”
There are songs that are hits, and then there are songs that change the whole course of music. “Sunday Morning Coming Down” was one of those songs, and it cemented Kris Kristofferson’s place in history. Simply about the lonliness of a Sunday morning when you have no friends or family and the bars don’t open until 1 PM, the song touched a nerve and in a poetic way country music had never done before.
Ray Stevens was the first to cut the song in 1969, but it stalled at #55 on the charts. Kristofferson’s own version didn’t chart at all. It was Johnny Cash’s take on “Sunday Morning Coming Down” that took it all the way to #1 in 1970, and eventually to becoming the Song of the Year by the Country Music Association. Johnny Cash had the credibility and undying loyalty of the country music community to sing what was a controversial song at the time, and have people listen through the controversy to the heart of the story that Kristoffersoon had so eloquently captured.
6. Opening Up Country Music To More Risque Themes
Where Kris Kristofferson played a seminal role in the history of country music, and specifically in the Outlaw movement of the early 70’s was by opening up the music to new themes that previously had been considered risque in the family friendly environment of country. Though country had contained risque and adult themes previously, the Countrypolitan movement taking over Nashville at the time looked to appeal to the opposite crowd of the counterculture, and anything suggestive was regularly written out of country songs, if they even got cut at all when they including something thought to be objectionable.
It wasn’t just the “stoned” word in the song “Sunday Morning Coming Down” that Johnny Cash helped Kristofferson normalize in country music when Cash performed the song on his The Johnny Cash Show. Other suggestive lyrics like “Lay your warm and tender body close to mine” from the song “For The Good Times” stretched the boundaries of country music, and allowed other songwriters and performers to tackle subjects previously off limits.
Many of Kristofferson’s songs were banned from country radio early on. But as his performance career suffered, his peers continued to push to be able to cut Kristofferson songs until the rules keeping Kristofferson’s songs down had been completely broken
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Kris Kristofferson may have never shot anyone or spent time in prison, but when you look at his life and accomplishments, it is an absolute marvel of the American experience. From starting off as a Rhodes Scholar, to becoming a helicopter pilot in the Army, to being responsible for a Hall of Fame career in country, to becoming a Hollywood superstar and dating singers and actors to making daring moves to further his career, Kris Kristofferson is not just a country music badass, he’s one of the most badass Americans to ever be born.
7. Dating Janis Joplin and “Me & Bobby McGee”
We all know Janis was the one to make Kris Kristofferson’s “Me & Bobby McGee” into an American standard, but their relationship went much deeper than songwriter and performer. Before Kristofferson fell in love with Rita Coolidge, and right before Janis would eventually die of a heroin overdose, the two Texas natives engaged in a wild relationship with “Me & Bobby McGee” as the backdrop.
Kris and Janis were introduced by songwriter and performer Bobby Neuwirth. Kristofferson had just played in Greenwich Village, and Neuwirth suggested they fly out to Larkspur, California where Janis was currently staying. The three ended up residing there for weeks, and Kristofferson immediately became the apple of Joplin’s eye. “I’d a split there,” Kris recalls. “I dug her, but I had itchy feet. I’d get up intending to get out, and in she comes with the early morning drinks and pretty soon you’re wasted enough and you don’t care about leaving. She’d definitely let ya know when she was being abused, and she thought so a lot. She was always jangling around talking about how everybody was living off of her, but she had people she’d bring into the house and then she’d bitch because she was giving them bed and board.”
It was 1970, and Kristofferson was finally beginning to make it as a songwriter. He wanted Joplin to cut “Me & Bobby McGee” to help pay bills, but sources close to the steamy couple insist Kristofferson didn’t shack up with Janis simply to convince her to record the song. Joplin truly loved the song, and decided to release it on her next album, which ended up being her last. After Kristofferson left, Janis fell back into heroin use. Kristofferson tried to come to her aid, but Joplin’s demons ran much deeper than her short-term relationship with Kris. “You won’t be around,” Janis retorted to Kris. “None of ’em will be.”
Joplin recorded “Me & Bobby McGee only a few days before her death in October of 1970. When her final album Pearl came out in January of 1971, and “Me & Bobby McGee” became Joplin’s only #1 hit.
8. Winning a Golden Globe for Best Actor
a-star-is-born-movieThere are a lot of actors who have become musicians, and musicians who have become actors. But few have excelled at both disciplines to the point where they’re awarded some of the highest distinctions the respective industries can bestow. Already a decorated Captain in the Army, already a Rhodes Scholar, already a winner for the CMA’s Song of the Year, Kristofferson gets into acting, and eventually is given the Golden Globe of Best Actor to put on his mantle.
Kristofferson’s acting credits are too numerous to list, and depending on who you talk to, they rival if not exceed his musical contributions. But in 1976, Kristofferson delivered the performance of his lifetime across from Barbara Streisand in A Star Is Born. Though the film was a remake and had been released two times previous, it became a blockbuster and made $80 million, partly from the savvy casting right as Kristofferson was coming into his prime as a Hollywood heartthrob. The movie sent his hunk status into hyperdrive, and Kris became ‘A’ list material. The film also won four other Golden Globes, and an Academy Award.
Kristofferson loved receiving the distinction, but he hated making the movie. He later expressed it was “worse than boot camp.”
Overall Kris Kristofferson has acted in over 100 films.
9. Playing The Very Top Mob Boss in the Movie Payback
kris-kristofferson-paybackIn the 1999 movie Payback starring Mel Gibson, Mel’s character Porter is looking to get the $70,000 owed to him after an underling of a criminal syndicate does him wrong in a deal. As the movie transpires, Mel keeps killing off underlings and bosses in the syndicate, working higher hand higher up the chain looking for his payback. “One man. You go high enough, you always come to one man,” Porter keeps saying throughout the movie. Eventually Porter does get to the very top, and who does he find? None other than Kris Kristofferson, playing the role of Bronson, the very top mob boss.
What makes the role work and the scene where the top boss is finally revealed so powerful is because of the weight that the simple sight of Kris Kristofferson holds.
10. Having Over 450 Artists Cover His Songs
Just think about that. When you talk about imitation as the sincerest form of flattery, it doesn’t get any more flattering than that. Some of the most notable artists that have covered Kris Kristofferson songs include:
Dave Dudley, Janis Joplin, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Faron Young, Roger Miller, Ray Stevens, Ray Price, Waylon Jennings, Sammi Smith, Bobby Bare, Joe Simon, Patty Page, O.C. Smith, and pretty much any other performing artist who has any taste in music.
“The great thing about being a songwriter is you can hear your baby interpreted by so many people that have creative talents vocally that I don’t have,” Kris once said."
FYI 1sg-dan-capriSGT Robert R.CPT Tommy Curtis
SGT (Join to see)SR Marcus PinedaSGT Gerald Palen
SGT Steve McFarlandCol Carl WhickerSP5 Billy Mullins
SFC David Xanten
Happy 83rd birthday Kristoffer Kristofferson and hopefully your memory has not faded away completely.
Kris Kristofferson FULL LENGTH INTERVIEW
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc84DMbQxbU
Images:
1. Kris Kristopherson served in the army as a helicopter pilot, eventually being promoted to Captain
2. Kris Kristofferson army airborne school
3. Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson.
4. 1976 Kris Kristopherson was awarded a Golden Globe for Best Actor in A Star Is Born
Background from savingcountrymusic.com/10-badass-kris-kristofferson-moments/
"10 Badass Kris Kristofferson Moments
Kris Kristofferson may have never shot anyone or spent time in prison, but when you look at his life and accomplishments, it is an absolute marvel of the American experience. From starting off as a Rhodes Scholar, to becoming a helicopter pilot in the Army, to being responsible for a Hall of Fame career in country, to becoming a Hollywood superstar and dating singers and actors to making daring moves to further his career, Kris Kristofferson is not just a country music badass, he’s one of the most badass Americans to ever be born.
1. Becoming a Rhodes Scholar
Kris Kristofferson is a smart one to say the least. The Rhodes Scholarship is an Oxford University postgraduate distinction that is considered the world’s most prestigious academic scholarship and scholastic accolade. Created in 1902, and the first international scholarship program of its kind, Rhodes Scholars are considered to have any job available to them throughout their lives, and many have gone on to be Presidents, Prime Ministers, and prominent business leaders. Only about 80 scholars are selected each year from around the world, and Kris Kristofferson was one of them to be bestowed with the Rhodes Scholar honor in 1958. While at Oxford, Kristofferson studied literature at Merton College—the same college J.R.R. Tolkien was a professor at during the period. Kristofferson also earned his “Blue” in boxing as a collegiate athlete.
It was at Oxford that Kristofferson first tried his hand in the music business. He recorded for a label called Top Rank Records under the name Kris Carson, and was dubbed the “Yank at Oxford”. But the pursuit didn’t go anywhere after a record company in the United States claimed they owned Kristofferson’s rights.
2. Flying Helicopters as a Captain in the Army
Possibly country music’s most well-known veteran, Kris Kristofferson came from a strong military family. After college at Oxford, his parents pushed him to enlist and Kristofferson went into the United States Army as an officer, attending Ranger school and achieving the rank of Captain as a helicopter pilot. Kristofferson received his training at Fort Rucker, Alabama before being deployed to West Germany as part of the 8th Infantry Division. After serving out his tour of duty, Kristofferson was scheduled to become an English Literature professor at West Point, but decided to pursue a career in songwriting instead. The American Veterans Awards named Kris Kristofferson “Veteran of the Year” in 2003. His first successful songwriting hit was called “Viet Nam Blues” originally recorded by Dave Dudley.
Kristofferson later flew helicopters commercially, especially in Louisiana, traveling back to Nashville to pitch songs. He wrote “Help Me Make It Through The Night” on an oil platform in the gulf, and “Me & Bobby McGee” also while in Louisiana.
3. Taking a Janitor Position to Help Become a Songwriter
Being from a proud military family, Kris Kristofferson was not only expected to do his duty to his country during his youth, but to follow a military career throughout his life. Flying helicopters and spending five years in the military apparently wasn’t enough, and when Kris relayed his plans to move to Nashville and become a songwriter, Kristofferson’s family officially disowned him. They never completely reconciled.
Cut off from his support network, Kris Kristofferson struggled. This Rhodes Scholar and Oxford graduate that could fly helicopters resorted to taking a janitorial position at the studios of Columbia Records simply to be one step closer to his dream of becoming a songwriter. Kristofferson was in the studio when Bob Dylan was cutting his album Blonde on Blonde, but was too bashful to approach him. He did get the courage to befriend Johnny Cash, who was warm to Kristofferson and considered some of his songs, but never took the young songwriter seriously until….
4. Landing a Helicopter on Johnny Cash’s Lawn to Deliver Demos
johnny-cash-kris-kristoffersonAt the time, Kristofferson was working as a janitor at the offices of Columbia Records where Johnny Cash was signed. Kristofferson had met Cash a number of times, in the studio and backstage at The Grand Ole Opry, but Cash wouldn’t show any attention to young Kristofferson’s songwriting aspirations. Kris would slip Cash demos of his work, or give them to June Carter or Luther Perkins when he had a chance, but according to Cash, he would take them home to the Hendersonville house and toss them into Old Hickory Lake.
Kristofferson took part-time work with the National Guard to help pay bills, and desperate to get Johnny Cash’s attention, decided to deviate from his flight plan while on a training run and land his helicopter in the Hendersonville property’s front yard. What happened next depends on who you ask. According to Cash, Kristofferson came sauntering out of the helicopter with a beer in one hand, and his demo tapes in another, demanding to be heard. But Kristofferson paints a more subdued picture. “Y’know, John had a very creative imagination,” Kristofferson recalled. “I’ve never flown with a beer in my life. Believe me, you need two hands to fly those things.” In fact Kristofferson doesn’t even remember Cash being at the house at the time, though he does say, “I still think I was lucky he didn’t shoot me that day!”
What was the result of Kris Kristofferson’s aeronautical attention grab? It got Johnny Cash to invite him up on stage at the Newport Folk Festival later that year, which put Kris Kristofferson on the country music map.
5. Writing “Sunday Morning Coming Down”
There are songs that are hits, and then there are songs that change the whole course of music. “Sunday Morning Coming Down” was one of those songs, and it cemented Kris Kristofferson’s place in history. Simply about the lonliness of a Sunday morning when you have no friends or family and the bars don’t open until 1 PM, the song touched a nerve and in a poetic way country music had never done before.
Ray Stevens was the first to cut the song in 1969, but it stalled at #55 on the charts. Kristofferson’s own version didn’t chart at all. It was Johnny Cash’s take on “Sunday Morning Coming Down” that took it all the way to #1 in 1970, and eventually to becoming the Song of the Year by the Country Music Association. Johnny Cash had the credibility and undying loyalty of the country music community to sing what was a controversial song at the time, and have people listen through the controversy to the heart of the story that Kristoffersoon had so eloquently captured.
6. Opening Up Country Music To More Risque Themes
Where Kris Kristofferson played a seminal role in the history of country music, and specifically in the Outlaw movement of the early 70’s was by opening up the music to new themes that previously had been considered risque in the family friendly environment of country. Though country had contained risque and adult themes previously, the Countrypolitan movement taking over Nashville at the time looked to appeal to the opposite crowd of the counterculture, and anything suggestive was regularly written out of country songs, if they even got cut at all when they including something thought to be objectionable.
It wasn’t just the “stoned” word in the song “Sunday Morning Coming Down” that Johnny Cash helped Kristofferson normalize in country music when Cash performed the song on his The Johnny Cash Show. Other suggestive lyrics like “Lay your warm and tender body close to mine” from the song “For The Good Times” stretched the boundaries of country music, and allowed other songwriters and performers to tackle subjects previously off limits.
Many of Kristofferson’s songs were banned from country radio early on. But as his performance career suffered, his peers continued to push to be able to cut Kristofferson songs until the rules keeping Kristofferson’s songs down had been completely broken
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Kris Kristofferson may have never shot anyone or spent time in prison, but when you look at his life and accomplishments, it is an absolute marvel of the American experience. From starting off as a Rhodes Scholar, to becoming a helicopter pilot in the Army, to being responsible for a Hall of Fame career in country, to becoming a Hollywood superstar and dating singers and actors to making daring moves to further his career, Kris Kristofferson is not just a country music badass, he’s one of the most badass Americans to ever be born.
7. Dating Janis Joplin and “Me & Bobby McGee”
We all know Janis was the one to make Kris Kristofferson’s “Me & Bobby McGee” into an American standard, but their relationship went much deeper than songwriter and performer. Before Kristofferson fell in love with Rita Coolidge, and right before Janis would eventually die of a heroin overdose, the two Texas natives engaged in a wild relationship with “Me & Bobby McGee” as the backdrop.
Kris and Janis were introduced by songwriter and performer Bobby Neuwirth. Kristofferson had just played in Greenwich Village, and Neuwirth suggested they fly out to Larkspur, California where Janis was currently staying. The three ended up residing there for weeks, and Kristofferson immediately became the apple of Joplin’s eye. “I’d a split there,” Kris recalls. “I dug her, but I had itchy feet. I’d get up intending to get out, and in she comes with the early morning drinks and pretty soon you’re wasted enough and you don’t care about leaving. She’d definitely let ya know when she was being abused, and she thought so a lot. She was always jangling around talking about how everybody was living off of her, but she had people she’d bring into the house and then she’d bitch because she was giving them bed and board.”
It was 1970, and Kristofferson was finally beginning to make it as a songwriter. He wanted Joplin to cut “Me & Bobby McGee” to help pay bills, but sources close to the steamy couple insist Kristofferson didn’t shack up with Janis simply to convince her to record the song. Joplin truly loved the song, and decided to release it on her next album, which ended up being her last. After Kristofferson left, Janis fell back into heroin use. Kristofferson tried to come to her aid, but Joplin’s demons ran much deeper than her short-term relationship with Kris. “You won’t be around,” Janis retorted to Kris. “None of ’em will be.”
Joplin recorded “Me & Bobby McGee only a few days before her death in October of 1970. When her final album Pearl came out in January of 1971, and “Me & Bobby McGee” became Joplin’s only #1 hit.
8. Winning a Golden Globe for Best Actor
a-star-is-born-movieThere are a lot of actors who have become musicians, and musicians who have become actors. But few have excelled at both disciplines to the point where they’re awarded some of the highest distinctions the respective industries can bestow. Already a decorated Captain in the Army, already a Rhodes Scholar, already a winner for the CMA’s Song of the Year, Kristofferson gets into acting, and eventually is given the Golden Globe of Best Actor to put on his mantle.
Kristofferson’s acting credits are too numerous to list, and depending on who you talk to, they rival if not exceed his musical contributions. But in 1976, Kristofferson delivered the performance of his lifetime across from Barbara Streisand in A Star Is Born. Though the film was a remake and had been released two times previous, it became a blockbuster and made $80 million, partly from the savvy casting right as Kristofferson was coming into his prime as a Hollywood heartthrob. The movie sent his hunk status into hyperdrive, and Kris became ‘A’ list material. The film also won four other Golden Globes, and an Academy Award.
Kristofferson loved receiving the distinction, but he hated making the movie. He later expressed it was “worse than boot camp.”
Overall Kris Kristofferson has acted in over 100 films.
9. Playing The Very Top Mob Boss in the Movie Payback
kris-kristofferson-paybackIn the 1999 movie Payback starring Mel Gibson, Mel’s character Porter is looking to get the $70,000 owed to him after an underling of a criminal syndicate does him wrong in a deal. As the movie transpires, Mel keeps killing off underlings and bosses in the syndicate, working higher hand higher up the chain looking for his payback. “One man. You go high enough, you always come to one man,” Porter keeps saying throughout the movie. Eventually Porter does get to the very top, and who does he find? None other than Kris Kristofferson, playing the role of Bronson, the very top mob boss.
What makes the role work and the scene where the top boss is finally revealed so powerful is because of the weight that the simple sight of Kris Kristofferson holds.
10. Having Over 450 Artists Cover His Songs
Just think about that. When you talk about imitation as the sincerest form of flattery, it doesn’t get any more flattering than that. Some of the most notable artists that have covered Kris Kristofferson songs include:
Dave Dudley, Janis Joplin, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Faron Young, Roger Miller, Ray Stevens, Ray Price, Waylon Jennings, Sammi Smith, Bobby Bare, Joe Simon, Patty Page, O.C. Smith, and pretty much any other performing artist who has any taste in music.
“The great thing about being a songwriter is you can hear your baby interpreted by so many people that have creative talents vocally that I don’t have,” Kris once said."
FYI 1sg-dan-capriSGT Robert R.CPT Tommy Curtis
SGT (Join to see)SR Marcus PinedaSGT Gerald Palen
SGT Steve McFarlandCol Carl WhickerSP5 Billy Mullins
SFC David Xanten
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