Kris Kristofferson
Oct 29, 2023 12:03:56 #
Graynor wrote:
Very nice ! I enjoyed reading your post.
Thanks for sharing!’😊
Thanks for sharing!’😊
Oct 29, 2023 12:04:10 #
Oct 29, 2023 12:04:38 #
MosheR wrote:
I knew he was a Rhodes Scholar, but I did not know most of the rest. He makes the rest of us look like pikers.
Oct 29, 2023 12:05:15 #
Earnest Botello wrote:
Chris has had an incredible career, I did not know that he was a man of many talents and achievements. Thanks for posting, Brian.
My pleasure Earnest.
Oct 29, 2023 12:35:35 #
[quote=bcheary]kris kristofferson - Why me Lord
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2u_rEcWW8M
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kristofferson
Excerpt:
In 1958, Kristofferson won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, studying at Merton College. While at Oxford, he was awarded a Blue for boxing, played rugby for his college, and began writing songs. At Oxford, he became acquainted with fellow Rhodes scholar, art critic, and poet Michael Fried. With the help of his manager, Larry Parnes, Kristofferson recorded for Top Rank Records under the name Kris Carson. Parnes was working to sell Kristofferson as "a Yank at Oxford" to the British public; Kristofferson was willing to accept that promotional approach if it helped his singing career, which he hoped would enable him to progress toward his goal of becoming a novelist.[
This early phase of his music career was unsuccessful. In 1960, Kristofferson graduated with a B.Phil. degree in English literature. In 1961, he married his longtime girlfriend, Frances "Fran" Mavia Beer.
Kristofferson, under pressure from his family, joined the U.S. Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, attaining the rank of captain. He became a helicopter pilot after receiving flight training at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He also completed Ranger School. During the early 1960s, he was stationed in West Germany as a member of the 8th Infantry Division.[18] During this time, he resumed his music career and formed a band. In 1965, after his tour in Germany ended, Kristofferson was given an assignment to teach English literature at West Point. Instead, he decided to leave the Army and pursue songwriting. His family disowned him because of his career decision; sources are unclear on whether they reconciled. They saw it as a rejection of everything they stood for, although Kristofferson says he is proud of his time in the military and received the Veteran of the Year Award at the 2003 American Veterans Awards ceremony.
After leaving the army in 1965, Kristofferson moved to Nashville. He worked odd jobs while struggling for success in music while burdened with medical expenses resulting from his son's defective esophagus. He and his wife soon divorced.
He got a job sweeping floors at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville. He met June Carter there and asked her to give Johnny Cash a tape of his. She did, but Cash put it on a large pile with others. He also worked as a commercial helicopter pilot for south Louisiana firm Petroleum Helicopters International (PHI), based in Lafayette, Louisiana. Kristofferson recalled of his days as a pilot, "That was about the last three years before I started performing, before people started cutting my songs. I would work a week down here [in south Louisiana] for PHI, sitting on an oil platform and flying helicopters. Then I'd go back to Nashville at the end of the week and spend a week up there trying to pitch the songs, then come back down and write songs for another week. I can remember "Help Me Make It Through the Night" I wrote sitting on top of an oil platform. I wrote "Bobby McGee" down here, and a lot of them [in south Louisiana]."
Upon hearing "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", Cash decided to record it, and in 1970 Kristofferson won Songwriter of the Year for the song at the Country Music Association Awards.
Kristofferson's compositions were still in demand. Ray Price ("For the Good Times"), Gladys Knight & The Pips ("Help Me Make It Through The Night"), Waylon Jennings ("The Taker"), Bobby Bare ("Come Sundown"), Johnny Cash ("Sunday Morning Coming Down"), and Sammi Smith ("Help Me Make It Through the Night") all recorded successful versions of his songs in the early-1970s. "For the Good Times" (Ray Price) won "Song of the Year" in 1970 from the Academy of Country Music, while "Sunday Morning Coming Down" (Johnny Cash) won the same award from the academy's rival, the Country Music Association, in the same year. This is the only time an individual received the same award from these two organizations in the same year for different songs.
In 1971, Janis Joplin, who had dated Kristofferson, had a number one hit with "Me and Bobby McGee" from her posthumous album Pearl.
For the next several years, Kristofferson focused on acting. He appeared in Cisco Pike (1972) with Gene Hackman; Blume in Love (1973), directed by Paul Mazursky; three Sam Peckinpah films: Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), and Convoy (1978); and Michael Ritchie's Semi-Tough (1977) with Burt Reynolds. He continued acting in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Vigilante Force (1976), The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (1976), and the romantic drama A Star Is Born (1976) with Barbra Streisand, for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor soon followed.
After his singing success in the early 1970s, Kristofferson met singer Rita Coolidge. They married in 1973 and released an album titled Full Moon, another success buoyed by numerous hit singles and Grammy nominations. However, his fifth album, Spooky Lady's Sideshow, released in 1974, was a commercial failure, setting the trend for most of the rest of his musical career. Artists such as Ronnie Milsap and Johnny Duncan continued to record Kristofferson's material with success, but his distinctively rough voice and anti-pop sound kept his own audience to a minimum. Meanwhile, more artists took his songs to the top of the charts, including Willie Nelson, whose 1979 LP release of (Willie Nelson) Sings Kristofferson reached number five on the U.S. Country Music chart and certified Platinum in the U.S.
After his singing success in the early 1970s, Kristofferson met singer Rita Coolidge. They married in 1973 and released an album titled Full Moon, another success buoyed by numerous hit singles and Grammy nominations. However, his fifth album, Spooky Lady's Sideshow, released in 1974, was a commercial failure, setting the trend for most of the rest of his musical career. Artists such as Ronnie Milsap and Johnny Duncan continued to record Kristofferson's material with success, but his distinctively rough voice and anti-pop sound kept his own audience to a minimum. Meanwhile, more artists took his songs to the top of the charts, including Willie Nelson, whose 1979 LP release of (Willie Nelson) Sings Kristofferson reached number five on the U.S. Country Music chart and certified Platinum in the U.S.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted Kristofferson in 1985, as had the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame earlier, in 1977. In 1999, The Austin Sessions, was released, an album on which Kristofferson reworked some of his favorite songs with the help of artists such as Mark Knopfler, Steve Earle, and Jackson Browne. In 2003, Broken Freedom Song was released, a live album recorded in San Francisco.
In 2003, he received the "Spirit of Americana" free speech award from The Americana Music Association.[30] In 2004, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In 1961, he married his longtime girlfriend, Frances "Fran" Mavia Beer, eventually divorcing. Kristofferson briefly dated Janis Joplin before her death in October 1970.[ His second marriage was to singer Rita Coolidge in 1973, ending in divorce by 1980. Kristofferson married Lisa Meyers in 1983.Kristofferson and Lisa Meyers own a home in Los Flores Canyon in Malibu, California, and maintain a residence in Hana on the island of Maui. Kristofferson has encountered a few serious medical issues in the past few decades. He had successful bypass surgery in 1999. He later started experiencing memory loss
Kristofferson has said that he would like the first three lines of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on the Wire" on his tombstone:
Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
WOW!!!! What an incredible, varied journey that was filled with peaks and valleys, euphoria, and disappointment. Truth can sometimes be more astounding than fiction![/quote]
I love his music - experienced his live concerts several times. One of the best songwriters ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2u_rEcWW8M
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kris_Kristofferson
Excerpt:
In 1958, Kristofferson won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University, studying at Merton College. While at Oxford, he was awarded a Blue for boxing, played rugby for his college, and began writing songs. At Oxford, he became acquainted with fellow Rhodes scholar, art critic, and poet Michael Fried. With the help of his manager, Larry Parnes, Kristofferson recorded for Top Rank Records under the name Kris Carson. Parnes was working to sell Kristofferson as "a Yank at Oxford" to the British public; Kristofferson was willing to accept that promotional approach if it helped his singing career, which he hoped would enable him to progress toward his goal of becoming a novelist.[
This early phase of his music career was unsuccessful. In 1960, Kristofferson graduated with a B.Phil. degree in English literature. In 1961, he married his longtime girlfriend, Frances "Fran" Mavia Beer.
Kristofferson, under pressure from his family, joined the U.S. Army and was commissioned as a second lieutenant, attaining the rank of captain. He became a helicopter pilot after receiving flight training at Fort Rucker, Alabama. He also completed Ranger School. During the early 1960s, he was stationed in West Germany as a member of the 8th Infantry Division.[18] During this time, he resumed his music career and formed a band. In 1965, after his tour in Germany ended, Kristofferson was given an assignment to teach English literature at West Point. Instead, he decided to leave the Army and pursue songwriting. His family disowned him because of his career decision; sources are unclear on whether they reconciled. They saw it as a rejection of everything they stood for, although Kristofferson says he is proud of his time in the military and received the Veteran of the Year Award at the 2003 American Veterans Awards ceremony.
After leaving the army in 1965, Kristofferson moved to Nashville. He worked odd jobs while struggling for success in music while burdened with medical expenses resulting from his son's defective esophagus. He and his wife soon divorced.
He got a job sweeping floors at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville. He met June Carter there and asked her to give Johnny Cash a tape of his. She did, but Cash put it on a large pile with others. He also worked as a commercial helicopter pilot for south Louisiana firm Petroleum Helicopters International (PHI), based in Lafayette, Louisiana. Kristofferson recalled of his days as a pilot, "That was about the last three years before I started performing, before people started cutting my songs. I would work a week down here [in south Louisiana] for PHI, sitting on an oil platform and flying helicopters. Then I'd go back to Nashville at the end of the week and spend a week up there trying to pitch the songs, then come back down and write songs for another week. I can remember "Help Me Make It Through the Night" I wrote sitting on top of an oil platform. I wrote "Bobby McGee" down here, and a lot of them [in south Louisiana]."
Upon hearing "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", Cash decided to record it, and in 1970 Kristofferson won Songwriter of the Year for the song at the Country Music Association Awards.
Kristofferson's compositions were still in demand. Ray Price ("For the Good Times"), Gladys Knight & The Pips ("Help Me Make It Through The Night"), Waylon Jennings ("The Taker"), Bobby Bare ("Come Sundown"), Johnny Cash ("Sunday Morning Coming Down"), and Sammi Smith ("Help Me Make It Through the Night") all recorded successful versions of his songs in the early-1970s. "For the Good Times" (Ray Price) won "Song of the Year" in 1970 from the Academy of Country Music, while "Sunday Morning Coming Down" (Johnny Cash) won the same award from the academy's rival, the Country Music Association, in the same year. This is the only time an individual received the same award from these two organizations in the same year for different songs.
In 1971, Janis Joplin, who had dated Kristofferson, had a number one hit with "Me and Bobby McGee" from her posthumous album Pearl.
For the next several years, Kristofferson focused on acting. He appeared in Cisco Pike (1972) with Gene Hackman; Blume in Love (1973), directed by Paul Mazursky; three Sam Peckinpah films: Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973), Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974), and Convoy (1978); and Michael Ritchie's Semi-Tough (1977) with Burt Reynolds. He continued acting in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore (1974), Vigilante Force (1976), The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (1976), and the romantic drama A Star Is Born (1976) with Barbra Streisand, for which he received a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor soon followed.
After his singing success in the early 1970s, Kristofferson met singer Rita Coolidge. They married in 1973 and released an album titled Full Moon, another success buoyed by numerous hit singles and Grammy nominations. However, his fifth album, Spooky Lady's Sideshow, released in 1974, was a commercial failure, setting the trend for most of the rest of his musical career. Artists such as Ronnie Milsap and Johnny Duncan continued to record Kristofferson's material with success, but his distinctively rough voice and anti-pop sound kept his own audience to a minimum. Meanwhile, more artists took his songs to the top of the charts, including Willie Nelson, whose 1979 LP release of (Willie Nelson) Sings Kristofferson reached number five on the U.S. Country Music chart and certified Platinum in the U.S.
After his singing success in the early 1970s, Kristofferson met singer Rita Coolidge. They married in 1973 and released an album titled Full Moon, another success buoyed by numerous hit singles and Grammy nominations. However, his fifth album, Spooky Lady's Sideshow, released in 1974, was a commercial failure, setting the trend for most of the rest of his musical career. Artists such as Ronnie Milsap and Johnny Duncan continued to record Kristofferson's material with success, but his distinctively rough voice and anti-pop sound kept his own audience to a minimum. Meanwhile, more artists took his songs to the top of the charts, including Willie Nelson, whose 1979 LP release of (Willie Nelson) Sings Kristofferson reached number five on the U.S. Country Music chart and certified Platinum in the U.S.
The Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted Kristofferson in 1985, as had the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame earlier, in 1977. In 1999, The Austin Sessions, was released, an album on which Kristofferson reworked some of his favorite songs with the help of artists such as Mark Knopfler, Steve Earle, and Jackson Browne. In 2003, Broken Freedom Song was released, a live album recorded in San Francisco.
In 2003, he received the "Spirit of Americana" free speech award from The Americana Music Association.[30] In 2004, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
In 1961, he married his longtime girlfriend, Frances "Fran" Mavia Beer, eventually divorcing. Kristofferson briefly dated Janis Joplin before her death in October 1970.[ His second marriage was to singer Rita Coolidge in 1973, ending in divorce by 1980. Kristofferson married Lisa Meyers in 1983.Kristofferson and Lisa Meyers own a home in Los Flores Canyon in Malibu, California, and maintain a residence in Hana on the island of Maui. Kristofferson has encountered a few serious medical issues in the past few decades. He had successful bypass surgery in 1999. He later started experiencing memory loss
Kristofferson has said that he would like the first three lines of Leonard Cohen's "Bird on the Wire" on his tombstone:
Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
WOW!!!! What an incredible, varied journey that was filled with peaks and valleys, euphoria, and disappointment. Truth can sometimes be more astounding than fiction![/quote]
I love his music - experienced his live concerts several times. One of the best songwriters ever.
Oct 29, 2023 13:09:31 #
One of " The Hiwaymen ", great stuff, kudos to him for doing what he wanted. 
Oct 29, 2023 13:18:20 #
DebAnn wrote:
I love his music - experienced his live concerts several times. One of the best songwriters ever.
Oct 29, 2023 13:18:33 #
One Rude Dawg wrote:
One of " The Hiwaymen ", great stuff, kudos to him for doing what he wanted.
Oct 29, 2023 14:01:34 #
I appreciated watching the Youtube of his testimony and background of the song, "Why Me Lord?"
Oct 29, 2023 14:53:34 #
ELNikkor wrote:
I appreciated watching the Youtube of his testimony and background of the song, "Why Me Lord?"
Oct 29, 2023 15:53:59 #
Oct 29, 2023 15:55:01 #
Oct 30, 2023 10:22:21 #
Oct 30, 2023 10:50:29 #
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