Kris Kristofferson Dead At 88: 'There's No Better Songwriter'

LOS ANGELES — Songwriter, musician and actor Kris Kristofferson died Saturday at his home in Maui, Hawaii, a family spokeswoman said Sunday. He was 88.

Kristofferson died peacefully, surrounded by family, spokeswoman Ebie McFarland told The Associated Press. She did not say the cause of death.

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 such peers as Willie Nelson, John Prine and Tom T. Hall.

"There's no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson," Nelson said during a November 2009 award ceremony for Kristofferson held by BMI. "Everything he writes is a standard and we're all just going to have to live with that."

Starting in the late 1960s, the Brownsville, Texas, native wrote such classics 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, whether Ray Price crooning "For the Good Times" or Janis Joplin belting out "Me and Bobby McGee." Joplin cut her version just days before she died in 1970 from a drug overdose. The recording became a posthumous No. 1 hit.

Kristofferson also starred opposite Ellen Burstyn in director Martin Scorsese's 1974 film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore," starred opposite Barbra Streisand in the 1976 "A Star Is Born," and acted alongside Wesley Snipes in Marvel's "Blade" in 1998.

The country music world took to social media Sunday to mourn Kristofferson.

"So sad to hear Kris Kristofferson has passed," John Rich, of the band Big & Rich, wrote on X. "He and I became friends over the years, and it was a distinct honor every time I got to work or hang out with him. He was one of the greatest lyricists to ever live, and a true class act. He set the bar so very high. Miss ya brother."

The Country Music Association in a post on X described Kristofferson as legendary and an icon.

"Sad to hear of Kris Kristofferson’s passing," wrote musician Travis Tritt on X. "He was an inspiration to me and I was fortunate to get to know him on the set of 'Outlaw Justice' that we filmed in Spain in 1998. My heartfelt condolences go out to Kris’s wife Lisa and all of his family, friends and fans."

A Rhodes scholar, Kristofferson was a Golden Gloves boxer and football player in college, received a master's degree in English from Merton College at the University of Oxford in England and turned down an appointment to teach at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, to pursue songwriting in Nashville. He was working as a part-time janitor at Columbia Records' Music Row studio in 1966 when Dylan recorded tracks for the seminal "Blonde on Blonde" double album.

Hits that Kristofferson recorded include "Why Me," "Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I'll Ever Do)," "Watch Closely Now," "Desperados Waiting for a Train," "A Song I'd Like to Sing" and "Jesus Was a Capricorn."

"Kris Kristofferson believed creativity is God-given, and those who ignore such a gift are doomed to unhappiness," Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, said in a statement on the museum's X account. "He preached that a life of the mind gives voice to the soul, and his work gave voice not only to his soul but to ours. He leaves a resounding legacy.”

Kristofferson was born June 22, 1936, the oldest of three and the son of a U.S. Air Force major general, according to Rolling Stone, which reported the family eventually settled in California and Kristofferson studied creative writing at Pomona College. After completing his master's degree at Oxford, he married Fran Beir, with whom he shared a daughter and son, and enlisted in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of captain, Rolling Stone reported.

Kristofferson played in an Army band and eventually relocated to Nashville to pursue songwriting, but his marraige fell apart and his wife moved to California with their children, according to Rolling Stone.

In 1973, Kristofferson married fellow songwriter Rita Coolidge and together they had a daughter, Rolling Stone reported, as well as a successful duet career that earned them two Grammy awards. They divorced in 1980.

Kristofferson and his third wife, Lisa Meyers, shared five children, according to Rolling Stone.

Kristofferson retired from performing and recording in 2021, making only occasional guest appearances on stage.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.