Country music legend and Blade star Kris Kristofferson has died at the age of 88
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Grammy Award-winning country artist and actor Kris Kristofferson has died at the age of 88, his family has confirmed.
Tributes poured in after the US entertainer, who starred in films including the Blade trilogy and Planet of the Apes, was announced to have died “peacefully” at his home in Maui on Saturday (September 28), surrounded by his family.
“It is with heavy hearts that we share the news that our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully at home on Saturday, September 28,” Kristofferson's family said in a statement shared with US outlets.
“We are all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all these years, and when you see a rainbow, know he's smiling down on us all.”
In the late 1960s, Brownsville, Texas wrote such classic standards as “Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “For the Good Times” and “Me and Bobby McGee.”
Kristofferson was a singer himself, but many of his songs were best known as performed by others, with Ray Price's “For the Good Times” or Janis Joplin's “Me and Bobby McGee” out.
With his long hair and bell-bottomed slacks and counterculture songs influenced by Bob Dylan, he represented a new breed of country songwriters, along with peers like Willie Nelson, John Prine and Tom T. Hall.
Nelson himself declared at an event in 2009 that he was well-respected within the industry: “There is no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson. Everything he writes is an ideal and we all have to live by it.”
Kristofferson has been the recipient of many awards, including four Grammys. He won Best Country Song in 1971 for “Help Me Make It Through the Night” and Best Country Performance twice with Rita Coolidge, to whom he was married in 1973 and 1975, respectively.
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In 2014 he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award for lifetime contribution to the music industry.
He retired from performing and recording in 2021, making only occasional guest appearances on stage.
In addition to his highly successful music career, Kristofferson was also a popular star in Hollywood, appearing on the big and small screens alongside other A-list names.
She starred opposite Ellen Burstyn in director Martin Scorsese's 1974 film Alice doesn't live here anymoreBarbra Streisand in the 1976 film A Star Is Bornand starred opposite Wesley Snipes in Marvels the blade In 1998. He reprized the role of Abraham Whistler in the next film.
In a 2006 interview with Associated PressKristofferson has revealed that he owes a large part of his music career to fellow legendary singer Johnny Cash.
“When I was at Army backstage at the Grand Ole Opry shaking his hand was the moment I decided I was going to come back,” Kristofferson said.
“It was electric. He took me under his wing before I ever cut a song. He cut my first record which was record of the year. He put me on stage first.
Christopherson is survived by his wife, Lisa; his eight children, Tracy, Chris Jr., Casey, Jesse, Jody, John, Kelly and Blake; and seven grandchildren.
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