Supremely gifted songwriter, singer and actor Kris Kristofferson died Saturday (Sept. 28) at his home in Maui, Hawaii, at age 88.
Born Kristoffer Kristofferson in Brownsville, Texas in June 1936; he family soon moved to California. Kristofferson’s short stories were published in The Atlantic Monthly and soon after, he became a Rhodes Scholar who studied at Oxford University in England. His life also included time as a Golden Gloves boxer, and an Army ranger who also flew helicopters (and famously once landed a helicopter on Johnny Cash’s lawn in order to get Cash to listen to a demo tape), an A-list actor, a writer and a creator equally inspired by the works of William Blake as Bob Dylan. In the Army, Kristofferson rose to the rank of captain, but when he was commissioned to teach English at West Point, he abandoned that opportunity in order to head to Nashville to pursue songwriting.
He began working as a janitor at Nashville’s Columbia Studios, which allowed him to listen in on sessions including Dylan’s 1966 Blonde on Blonde album. His nuanced, elegant lyricism style led to Kristofferson earning multiple No. 1s as a writer of songs made famous by other artists, including Ray Price, Johnny Cash, Roger Miller and Sammi Smith. In 1970, he issued his eponymous first album, Kristofferson, which included his own versions of the hits “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Help Me Make It Through The Night” and “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” all of which he originally penned.
He also earned his own No. 1 country hit with “Why Me,” and another as part of the country supergroup The Highwaymen, with Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson.
As an actor, he starred in films and television series including Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, A Star Is Born (in a Golden Globe-nominated performance opposite Barbra Streisand), Blade (opposite Wesley Snipes), Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Stagecoach, Convoy, Songwriter and Fire Down Below.
Kristofferson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004 — and a decade later, earned the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Below, we look at 11 songs or albums that Kristofferson had a hand in as an artist or songwriter that reached No. 1 on various Billboard charts.
In July 1973, Kristofferson earned his sole chart-topping single as a solo artist, when “Why Me” topped the Hot Country Songs chart (the song also peaked at No. 16 on the all-genre Hot 100). This soul-baring petition for grace and redemption centers on poetic, hymn-like lines such as “Now that I know that I’ve needed you/ So Help me Jesus, my soul’s in Your hand.” The song featured Rita Coolidge (whom Kristofferson was wed to from 1973 to 1980) and Larry Gatlin on background vocals.
In 1985, Kristofferson notched another hit on the Hot Country Singles (now called Hot Country Songs) chart with “Highwayman,” alongside his fellow Highwaymen: Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. The supergroup recorded the Jimmy Webb-penned “Highwayman,” which became their 1985 album’s title track
Janis Joplin recorded this Kristofferson-written song just before her death in 1970; following her passing, Joplin’s rendition reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in 1971. Producer/writer/business exec Fred Foster also has a co-writing credit on this song, as it was Foster’s idea to have Kristofferson write a song about Foster’s secretary at the time, who was named Bobbie McKee. Joplin’s bluesy, jazzy version of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002. Others who have recorded “Me and Bobby McGee” include Roger Miller, Charley Pride and Jerry Lee Lewis.
Sammi Smith earned her sole Hot Country Singles chart No. 1 on the strength of this Kristofferson-penned ballad. “Help Me Make It Through the Night” peaked on the chart in 1971, spending three weeks at the chart’s pinnacle. It also won a CMA Award for single of the year and a Grammy for best country song, and earned Smith a Grammy for best country vocal performance, female.
In 1970, Johnny Cash earned a two-week No. 1 hit on Hot Country Singles with this Kristofferson-penned ballad (which had also previously been recorded by Ray Stevens). The song, which includes devastating, enduring lines such as “I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt/ And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad, so I had one more for dessert,” was honored with the CMA’s song of the year accolade.
In 1980, Christy Lane earned her sole Hot Country Singles chart-topper with “One Day at a Time,” written by Kristofferson and Marijohn Wilkin.
In 1970, Ray Price scored his fifth No. 1 on the Hot Country Singles chart (and first chart-topper in 11 years) with this Kristofferson-written song. Price’s rendition of this song would also earn him a Grammy for best male country vocal performance, and would garner an ACM song of the year win for Kristofferson and a single of the year win for Price.
Kristofferson’s 1972-released solo album Jesus Was a Capricorn rose to the pinnacle of the Top Country Albums chart in November 1973. The album featured his Hot Country Singles No. 1 “Why Me,” while the title track was a nod to another influential songwriter, John Prine.
Highwayman, the inaugural studio album from country supergroup The Highwaymen (featuring Kristofferson, Cash, Nelson and Jennings), rose to No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart in September 1985. The album features not only the Jimmy Webb-penned track “Highwayman,” but the Guy Clark-written Hot Country Singles top 15 hit “Desperados Waiting for a Train.”
Kristofferson released this album with then-wife Rita Coolidge in 1973 and it reached No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart in November of that year. Full Moon marked the first of a trio of duets albums between Kristofferson and Coolidge. The album featured multiple co-writes from Kristofferson and Coolidge, including “I’m Down (But I Keep Falling)” and “It’s All Over (All Over Again).”
Kristofferson and Barbra Streisand starred in the 1976 film A Star is Born, which offers the tale of a burgeoning singer who falls for a veteran rock entertainer. The soundtrack, which featured songs performed by both Kristofferson and Streisand, spent six weeks atop the Billboard 200 in 1977. The soundtrack was also certified four-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.