Actor and songwriter Kris Kristofferson has passed away at the age of 88. The news was confirmed in a statement issued by Kristofferson’s family, who said the country music great passed away peacefully in his home in Hawaii surrounded by his loved ones. “It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on Saturday, September 28 at home,” the family wrote.
“We’re all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all.” Born in Brownsville, Texas, on June 22, 1936, Kristofferson would eventually find his way to country music and silver screen stardom following an academic upbringing that saw him study literature at Pomona before attending the prestigious University of Oxford as a Rhodes scholar.
While in the UK, Kristofferson experienced an early fling with the grassroots rock ‘n’ roll scene there, performing unreleased music under the name ‘Kris Carson’. After graduating in 1960, a spell as a helicopter pilot in the US army, which did nothing to diminish his musical sensibilities, followed. In the army, he’d write songs inspired by the likes of Hank William and Bob Dylan.
An offer to teach English at West Point came, but the aspiring artist turned it down in favor of becoming a “Nashville songwriting bum”. After relocating to the country music capital of the world in ’65, Kristofferson.
