Kris Kristofferson

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Kris Kristofferson

1978
Background information
Birth name Kristoffer Kristofferson
Born (1936-06-22) June 22, 1936
Origin Brownsville, Texas, U.S.
Genres Country, Progressive country, folk, rock, outlaw country
Occupations Singer-songwriter, actor
Instruments Vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica
Years active 1966–present
Labels Monument, Mercury, Warner Bros., New West, Columbia (Canada)
Associated acts The Highwaymen
Website www.kriskristofferson.com

Kristoffer "Kris" Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is an American country music singer, songwriter, musician, and film actor. He is known for such hits as "Me and Bobby McGee", "For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and "Help Me Make It Through the Night". Kristofferson is the sole writer of most of his songs, and he has collaborated with various other figures of the Nashville scene such as Shel Silverstein.[1] In 1985, Kristofferson joined fellow country artists Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash in forming the country music supergroup "The Highwaymen". In 2004, Kristofferson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Early life

Kristoffer Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, to Mary Ann (née Ashbrook) and Lars Henry Kristofferson, a U.S. Army Air Corps officer (later a U.S. Air Force Major General).[2] His paternal grandparents emigrated from Sweden, while his mother had English, Scots-Irish, German, Swiss-German, and Dutch ancestry.[3][4] Kristofferson's paternal grandfather was an officer in the Swedish Army. When Kristoffer was a child, his father pushed him towards a military career.[5]

Education

Like most "military brats", Kristofferson moved around frequently as a youth, finally settling down in San Mateo, California, where he graduated from San Mateo High School. An aspiring writer, Kristofferson enrolled in Pomona College in 1954. He experienced his first dose of fame when he appeared in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" for his achievements in collegiate rugby union, football, and track and field. He and fellow classmates revived the Claremont Colleges Rugby Club in 1958, which has remained a Southern California rugby dynasty. Kris became a member of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity at Pomona College, graduating in 1958 with a BA, summa cum laude in Literature. In a 2004 interview with Pomona College Magazine, Kristofferson mentioned philosophy professor Frederick Sontag as an important influence in his life.[6]

Kristofferson earned a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, where his college was Merton. While at Oxford, he was awarded his Blue for boxing and began writing songs. With the help of his manager, Larry Parnes, he recorded for Top Rank Records under the name Kris Carson. Parnes was working to sell Kris as "a Yank at Oxford" to the British public; Kris was willing to accept that promotional approach if it helped his singing career, which he hoped would enable him to progress towards his goal of becoming a novelist.[7] This early phase of his music career was unsuccessful.[8]

In 1960, Kristofferson graduated with a BPhil in English literature and married his long-time girlfriend, Fran Beer.

Kris has stated that he was greatly influenced by the poet William Blake while at Oxford, who had proclaimed that if one has a God-given creative talent then one should use it or else reap sorrow and despair. Kristofferson sent some of his compositions to a friend's relative, Marijohn Wilkin, a successful Nashville, Tennessee, songwriter, but when he arrived in the town to see Sam Phillips of Sun Records his shoes were, according to Philips, "falling off his feet."

Military career

Kris, under pressure from his family, ultimately joined the U.S. Army and achieved the rank of Captain. He became a helicopter pilot after receiving flight training at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He also completed Ranger School. During the early 1960s, he was stationed in West Germany as a member of the 8th Infantry Division.[9] It was during this time that he resumed his music career and formed a band. In 1965, when his tour of duty ended, Kristofferson was given an assignment to teach English Literature at West Point.[10] Instead, he decided to leave the Army and pursue songwriting. His family disowned him because of this decision and they never reconciled with him.[citation needed] They saw it as a rejection of everything they stood for, in spite of the fact that Kristofferson has said he is proud of his time in the military, and received the AVA (American Veterans Awards) "Veteran of the Year Award" in 2003.[11][12]

Career

Music

After leaving the Army in 1965, Kristofferson moved to Nashville. He worked at a variety of odd jobs while struggling for success in music, burdened with medical expenses resulting from his son's defective esophagus. He and his wife soon divorced.

He got a job sweeping floors at Columbia Studios in Nashville. There he met Johnny Cash, who initially accepted some of Kristofferson's songs, but chose not to use them. During Kristofferson's janitorial stint for Columbia, Bob Dylan recorded his landmark 1966 album Blonde on Blonde at the studio. Although he had the opportunity to watch some of Dylan's recording sessions, Kristofferson never met Dylan out of fear that he would be fired for approaching him.

He also worked as a commercial helicopter pilot at that time for a south Louisiana firm called Petroleum Helicopters International (PHI), based in Lafayette, Louisiana. Kristofferson recalled of his days as a pilot, "That was about the last three years before I started performing, before people started cutting my songs ... I would work a week down here [in south Louisiana] for PHI, sitting on an oil platform and flying helicopters. Then I'd go back to Nashville at the end of the week and spend a week up there trying to pitch the songs, then come back down and write songs for another week ... I can remember 'Help Me Make It Through The Night' I wrote sitting on top of an oil platform. I wrote 'Bobby McGee' down here, and a lot of them [in south Louisiana]."[13]

In 1966, Dave Dudley released a successful Kristofferson single, "Viet Nam Blues". In 1967, Kristofferson signed to Epic Records and released a single, "Golden Idol"/"Killing Time", but the song was not successful. Within the next few years, more Kristofferson originals hit the charts, performed by Roy Drusky ("Jody and the Kid"); Billy Walker & the Tennessee Walkers ("From the Bottle to the Bottom"); Ray Stevens ("Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down"); Jerry Lee Lewis ("Once More with Feeling"); Faron Young ("Your Time's Comin'"); and Roger Miller ("Me and Bobby McGee", "Best of all Possible Worlds", "Darby's Castle"). He achieved some success as a performer himself, following Johnny Cash's introduction of Kristofferson at the Newport Folk Festival. Kristofferson had previously grabbed Cash's attention when he landed his helicopter in Cash's yard without prior arrangement and gave him some tapes.[14]

Kristofferson signed to Monument Records as a recording artist. In addition to running that label, Fred Foster also served as manager of Combine Music, Kristofferson's songwriting label. His debut album for Monument in 1970 was Kristofferson, which included a few new songs as well as many of his previous hits. Sales were poor, although this debut album would become a success the following year when it was re-released under the title Me & Bobby McGee. Kristofferson's compositions were still in high demand. Ray Price ("For the Good Times"), Waylon Jennings ("The Taker"), Bobby Bare ("Come Sundown"), Johnny Cash ("Sunday Morning Coming Down") and Sammi Smith ("Help Me Make It Through the Night") all recorded successful versions of his songs in the early 1970s. "For the Good Times" (Ray Price) won "Song of the Year" in 1970 from the Academy of Country Music, while "Sunday Morning Coming Down" (Johnny Cash) won the same award from the Academy's rival, the Country Music Association in the same year. This is the only time an individual received the same award from these two organizations in the same year for different songs.

Kristofferson with Rita Coolidge at the 1972 Dripping Springs Reunion

In 1971, Janis Joplin, who dated Kristofferson for some time until her death, had a number-1 hit with "Me and Bobby McGee" from her posthumous Pearl. When released, it stayed on the number-one spot on the charts for weeks. More hits followed from others: Ray Price ("I'd Rather Be Sorry"); Joe Simon ("Help Me Make It Through the Night"); Bobby Bare ("Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends"); O. C. Smith ("Help Me Make It Through the Night"); Jerry Lee Lewis ("Me and Bobby McGee"); Patti Page ("I'd Rather Be Sorry"); and Peggy Little ("I've Got to Have You"). Kristofferson released his second album, The Silver Tongued Devil and I in 1971; the album was a success and established Kristofferson's career as a recording artist in his own right. Soon after, Kristofferson made his acting debut in The Last Movie (directed by Dennis Hopper) and appeared at the Isle of Wight Festival. In 1971, he acted in Cisco Pike and released his third album, Border Lord; the album was all-new material and sales were sluggish. He also swept the Grammy Awards that year with numerous songs nominated, winning country song of the year for "Help Me Make It Through the Night". Kristofferson's 1972 fourth album, Jesus Was a Capricorn initially had slow sales, but the third single, "Why Me", was a success and significantly increased album sales.

Film

For the next few years, Kristofferson focused on acting. He appeared in Blume in Love (directed by Paul Mazursky) and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (directed by Sam Peckinpah). He continued acting, in Sam Peckinpah's Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia, Convoy, (another Sam Peckinpah film which was released in 1978), Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, Vigilante Force, a film based on the Yukio Mishima novel The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, and A Star Is Born (with Barbra Streisand), for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor (and which he noted had been an experience "worse than boot camp") and Flashpoint in 1984 (directed by William Tannen). At the peak of his box-office power, Kristofferson turned down both William Friedkin's Sorcerer (1977), the romantic war film Hanover Street and the first Rambo-installment, First Blood.[15] In spite of his success with Streisand, Kristofferson's solo musical career headed downward with his non-charting ninth album, Shake Hands with the Devil. His next film Freedom Road did not earn a theatrical release in the U.S. Kristofferson's next film was Heaven's Gate, a phenomenal industry-changing failure. In 1986, he starred in The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James with Johnny Cash. In 1989, he was the male lead in the film Millennium with Cheryl Ladd. He earned a supporting role as Charlie Wade, a corrupt South Texas sheriff in John Sayles' Lone Star, a film nominated for an Oscar for Best Screenplay. In 1998, he took a role in the film Blade, playing alongside Wesley Snipes as Blade's mentor Abraham Whistler. He reprised the role in Blade II (2002) and again in Blade: Trinity (2004). In 1999, he co-starred with Mel Gibson in Payback. He was in the 2001 version of Planet of the Apes. He has also played the title character "Yohan" as an old man in the Norwegian film Yohan-the Children Wanderer. In 2011, he co-starred with Harry Connick, Jr., Ashley Judd, Nathan Gamble in Dolphin Tale and the 2014 sequel, Dolphin Tale 2. In 2012, Kristofferson was in Joyful Noise with Dolly Parton and Queen Latifah.

Mid-career

Also during this time, Kristofferson met singer Rita Coolidge. They married in 1973 and released an album titled Full Moon, another success buoyed by numerous hit singles and Grammy nominations. However, his fifth album, Spooky Lady's Sideshow, released in 1974, was a commercial failure, setting the trend for most of the rest of his career. Artists such as Ronnie Milsap and Johnny Duncan continued to record Kristofferson's material with much success, but his distinctively rough voice and anti-pop sound kept his own audience to a minimum. Meanwhile, more artists took his songs to the top of the charts, including Willie Nelson, whose 1979 LP release of Willie Nelson Sings Kris Kristofferson proved to be a smash success.

In 1979, Kris Kristofferson traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival that took place between March 2–4, alongside Rita Coolidge, Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Billy Swan, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnegan, Weather Report, and Billy Joel, plus an array of Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines and Orquesta Aragón. His performance is captured on Ernesto Juan Castellanos's documentary Havana Jam '79.

On November 18, 1979, Kristofferson and Coolidge appeared on the Muppet Show.

Kristofferson and Coolidge divorced in 1980.

Later work

In 1982, Kristofferson participated (with Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, and Brenda Lee) on The Winning Hand, a double album consisting of remastered and updated performances of recordings the four artists had made for the Monument label during the mid-1960s; the album reached the top-ten on the U.S. country album charts. He married again, to Lisa Meyers, and concentrated on films for a time, appearing in The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck, Flashpoint, and Songwriter, the last of which also starred Willie Nelson. Kristofferson was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score. Music from Songwriter (an album of duets between Nelson and Kristofferson) was a massive country success.

Nelson and Kristofferson continued their partnership, and added Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash to form the supergroup The Highwaymen. Their first album, Highwayman was a huge success, and the supergroup continued working together for a time. The single from the album Highwayman, also titled "Highwayman," was awarded the ACM's single of the year in 1985.[16] In 1985, Kristofferson starred in Trouble in Mind and released Repossessed, a politically aware album that was a country success, particularly "They Killed Him" (also performed by Bob Dylan), a tribute to his heroes, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesus, and Mahatma Gandhi. Kristofferson also appeared in Amerika at about the same time, a miniseries that attempted to depict life in America under Soviet control.

at the 2006 South by Southwest Festival

In spite of the success of Highwayman 2 in 1990, Kristofferson's solo recording career slipped significantly in the early 1990s, though he continued to record successfully with the Highwaymen. Lone Star (1996 film by John Sayles) reinvigorated Kristofferson's acting career, and he soon appeared in Blade, Blade II, Blade: Trinity, A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries, Fire Down Below, Tim Burton's remake of Planet of the Apes, Chelsea Walls, Payback, The Jacket and Fast Food Nation.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted Kristofferson in 1985, as had the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1977. 1999 saw the release of The Austin Sessions, an album on which Kristofferson reworked some of his favorite songs with the help of befriended artists such as Mark Knopfler, Steve Earle and Jackson Browne. In 2003, Broken Freedom Song was released, a live album recorded in San Francisco.

In 2004, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2006, he received the Johnny Mercer Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and released his first album full of new material in 11 years; This Old Road. On April 21, 2007, Kristofferson won CMT's Johnny Cash Visionary Award. Rosanne Cash, Cash's daughter, presented the honor during the April 16 awards show in Nashville. Previous recipients include Cash, Hank Williams, Jr., Loretta Lynn, Reba McEntire and the Dixie Chicks. "John was my hero before he was my friend, and anything with his name on it is really an honor in my eyes," Kristofferson said during a phone interview. "I was thinking back to when I first met him, and if I ever thought that I'd be getting an award with his name on it, it would have carried me through a lot of hard times."[citation needed]

In July 2007, Kristofferson was featured on CMT's "Studio 330 Sessions" where he played many of his hits.

On June 13, 2008, Kristofferson performed an acoustic in the round set with Patty Griffin and Randy Owen (Alabama) for a special taping of a PBS songwriters series to be aired in December. Each performer played 5 songs. Kristofferson's included "The Best of All Possible World's," "Darby's Castle," "Casey's Last Ride," "Me and Bobby McGee," and "Here Comes that Rainbow Again." Taping was done in Nashville.

Kristofferson released a new album of original songs entitled Closer to the Bone on September 29, 2009. It is produced by Don Was on the New West label. Previous to the release, Kristofferson remarked: "I like the intimacy of the new album. It has a general mood of reflecting on where we all are at this time of life."[17]

On November 10, 2009, Kristofferson was honored as a BMI Icon at the 57th annual BMI Country Awards. Throughout his career, Kristofferson's songwriting has garnered 48 BMI Country and Pop Awards.[18] He later remarked, "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."[19] Kristofferson had always denied having a good voice, and as he aged, what quality it might once have had commenced to decay.

In December 2009, it was announced that Kristofferson would be portraying Joe in the upcoming album Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, a collaboration between rock singer John Mellencamp and novelist Stephen King.[20]

On May 11, 2010, Light in the Attic Records is releasing demos that were recorded during Kristofferson's janitorial stint at Columbia. "Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends: The Publishing Demos" is the first time these recordings have been released and includes material that would later be featured on other Kristofferson recordings and on the recordings of other prominent artists, such as the original recording of "Me and Bobby McGee".

On June 4, 2011, Kristofferson performed a solo acoustic show at the Maui Arts and Cultural Center, showcasing both some of his original hits made famous by other artists, and newer songs.

Personal life

Kristofferson has been married three times and has eight children. In 1960, Kristofferson married his high-school sweetheart Frances (Fran) Beer. They had two children, a daughter, Tracy, and a son, Kris, before divorcing in 1969. Afterwards, Kristofferson dated Janis Joplin, not long before her death, before dating Barbra Streisand. In a 1983 "Rolling Stone" interview, Joan Baez said that she and Kristofferson had had a brief fling somewhere around 1970–71. In 1973, he married singer Rita Coolidge and together they had one child, Casey Kristofferson. They divorced in 1980.

In 1983, he married Lisa Meyers and together they have five children—son Jesse Turner, son Jody Ray, son Johnny Robert, daughter Kelly Marie and son Blake Cameron.

Kristofferson wrote a portion of the I'll Be Here in the Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt book.[21] Kristofferson had said that he would like the first three lines of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on the Wire" on his tombstone:.[22]

Like a bird on a wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free

Discography

Filmography

Year Film Notes
1971 The Last Movie
1972 Cisco Pike
1973 The Gospel Road: A Story of Jesus
1973 Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid Nominated–BAFTA Award for Best Newcomer
1973 Blume in Love
1974 Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
1974 Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore
1976 The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea
1976 Vigilante Force
1976 A Star Is Born Won–Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy
1977 Semi-Tough
1978 Convoy
1980 Heaven's Gate
1981 Rollover
1984 Songwriter Nominated–Academy Award for Original Music Score
1984 Flashpoint
1985 Trouble in Mind
1986 The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James
1986 Stagecoach
1986 Blood & Orchids Television movie
1987 Amerika Miniseries
1987 What I've Learned About US Foreign Policy: The War Against the Third World Documentary
1988 Big Top Pee-wee
1988 The Tracker Television movie
1989 Millennium
1989 Welcome Home
1990 Sandino
1990 Night of the Cyclone
1991 Another Pair of Aces: Three of a Kind
1992 Christmas In Connecticut
1992 Original Intent
1992 Miracle in the Wilderness Television movie
1993 Paper Hearts
1993 No Place to Hide
1993 Knights
1994 Sodbusters
1995 Pharaoh's Army
1996 Lone Star
1996 Blue Rodeo Television movie
1997 Message to Love: The Isle of Wight Festival Documentary
1997 Fire Down Below
1997-1999 Dead Man's Gun TV series, 41 episodes, Narrator
1998 Girls' Night
1998 Blade
1998 Dance with Me
1998 Two for Texas Television movie
1998 A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries
1998 The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock Direct-to-video
1999 Payback
1999 Molokai: The Story of Father Damien
1999 Limbo
1999 The Joyriders
1999 Outlaw Justice (aka The Long Kill)
2000 Perfect Murder, Perfect Town
2000 Comanche
2000 The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack Documentary
2000 Immaculate Funk Documentary
2001 Planet of the Apes
2001 Chelsea Walls
2001 Wooly Boys
2002 John Ford Goes to War Documentary, Narrator
2002 D-Tox (aka Eye See You)
2002 Blade II
2003 Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood Documentary
2003 Where the Red Fern Grows
2004 Silver City
2004 Lives of the Saints Miniseries
2004 Final Cut: The Making and Unmaking of Heaven's Gate Documentary
2004 Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt Documentary
2004 Blade: Trinity
2004 Brats: Our Journey Home Documentary
2005 Trudell Documentary
2005 The Jacket
2005 The Life and Hard Times of Guy Terrifico
2005 The Wendell Baker Story
2005 Passion & Poetry: The Ballad of Sam Peckinpah Documentary
2005 Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story
2005 Gun Video game, Voice of Ned
2006 Disappearances
2006 Fast Food Nation
2006 Room 10 Short film
2007 I'm Not There
2007 The Best of The Johnny Cash Show
2008 Snow Buddies
2008 Lords of the Street
2009 Powder Blue
2009 He's Just Not That Into You
2009 For Sale by Owner
2009 The Last Rites of Ransom Pride
2009 Yohan: The Child Wanderer
2009 Handy Manny's Motorcycle Adventure Voice
2010 Bloodworth
2010 Fallout: New Vegas Video game, Voice of Chief Hanlon
2011 Dolphin Tale
2012 Joyful Noise
2012 Deadfall
2013 When Angels Sing
2013 Midnight Stallion
2014 Dolphin Tale 2

See also

References

  1. Silverstein, Shel & Kristofferson, Kris (2004). "Once More with Feeling". Files Tube Lyrics. Retrieved 2013-02-02. 
  2. "Kris Kristofferson Biography (1936–)". Retrieved 2013-02-02. 
  3. "Kris Kristofferson at Tesco". 23 March 2008. Retrieved 2013-02-02. 
  4. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001434/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm
  5. O'Connor, Colleen. "Kris Kristofferson Following his passions -- wherever they may lead". dallasnews.com – Archives. Retrieved 2013-02-02. 
  6. "Acts of Will". Pomona College Magazine (Winter 2004). Retrieved 2013-02-02. 
  7. Schneider, Jason "Kris Kristofferson: the Pilgrim's Progress" "Exclaim!" October 2009.
  8. "Oh Boy Records | Kris Kristofferson Bio". Ohboy.com. Retrieved April 10, 2010. 
  9. "Kris Kristofferson's Rock And Rules | Clash Music Exclusive Interview". Clashmusic.com. 2010-07-27. Retrieved 2012-01-05. 
  10. "WIllie and Kris at the AVA's!". YouTube. 2011-06-23. Retrieved 2012-11-11. 
  11. "8th Annual Veterans Awards". V-r-a.org. 2002-11-26. Retrieved 2012-11-11. 
  12. Ron Thibodeaux, "He Made It through the Night," New Orleans Times-Picayune, November 29, 2006.
  13. Hawke, Ethan (April 16, 2009). "The Last Outlaw Poet". Rolling Stone (1076): 57. Retrieved May 23, 2009. 
  14. Kris Kristofferson (I) – Biography
  15. "Kris Kristofferson Biography" "CMT" 2004.
  16. "Kris Kristofferson". newwestrecords.com. Retrieved August 26, 2009. 
  17. "Kris Kristofferson to be Honored as Icon at 57th Annual BMI Country Awards". bmi.com. Retrieved September 15, 2010. 
  18. 'I never doubted once', country icon says. CNN. November 11, 2009. Retrieved November 12, 2009. 
  19. "John Mellencamp Official Site | A Year-End Conversation with John". Mellencamp.com. December 15, 2009. Retrieved April 10, 2010. 
  20. Chilton, Martin. "I'll Be Here In The Morning: The Songwriting Legacy Of Townes Van Zandt by Brian T Atkinson: review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 18 August 2013. 
  21. "Kris Kristofferson The Pilgrim's Progress Page 5". Exclaim!. Retrieved 18 August 2013. 

Further reading

  • Bernhardt, Jack. (1998). "Kris Kristofferson". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 286–7.

External links

Awards
Preceded by
Johnny Cash
First Amendment Center/AMA "Spirit of Americana" Free Speech Award
2003
Succeeded by
Steve Earle

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