Kris Kristofferson has influenced country music more than most songwriters. A generation of like-minded musicians was inspired to try Music City by his chart-topping hits from the late 1960s and early 1970s, including “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” and others. These hits exposed Nashville to the tensions and issues of the era, including freedom, despair, alienation, and candid sexuality. Kris regards songwriting as a gift, drawing inspiration from folk troubadours like Bob Dylan and Romantic poets. Songs, in his opinion, “come from (the) soul” since they are accompanied by music.
Born in Texas near the Mexican border, Kristofferson was raised as an Air Force brat, moving around a lot until his family settled in San Mateo, California, in his early teens. Having grown up loving country music, he wrote his first song, “I Hate Your Ugly Face,” at the age of eleven. It features a memorable phrase that reads, “Most heartbroken lovers wish their sweethearts happiness.” I simply wish that you, sorry-looking mess, are miserable. A Golden Gloves boxer, he was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, where he studied English literature and kept writing songs. He also graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Pomona College with a degree in creative writing. Kris had been an Airborne Ranger helicopter pilot and a commander in the army by 1965.
And to me, it was pure heaven. Sixteenth and Seventeenth Avenues South were the only two avenues in Nashville that were home to the music industry at the time. And everyone there, regardless of whether they wrote the songs or not, simply adored the creative process of songwriting. It wasn’t motivated by fame, fortune, or anything similar. I then made the decision to return to Nashville and resign my commission at the conclusion of the two weeks.
Kris made ends meet for five years by writing songs and taking on other part-time jobs, such as working as a janitor at Columbia recording facilities. Following two No. 1 hits the following year (Ray Price’s “For the Good Times” and Johnny Cash’s “Sunday Morning Coming Down”), Roger Miller’s “Me and Bobby McGee” reached No. 12 in 1969, and Kris had cemented his status as a hit-making songwriter, claiming that he “never had to work again.”
As a recording artist, Kristofferson scored two No. 1 hits: the gospel-tinged “Why Me” (1973) and the supergroup’s hallmark song, “Highwayman” (1985), which included Kris, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Willie Nelson. In addition, Kris was a successful actor who gained recognition for his roles in the movies Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974) and A Star is Born (1976), the latter of which earned him a Golden Globe for Best Actor. In 2014, he received a GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award, and in 2004 he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.