Kris Kristofferson
Kristoffer " Kris " Kristofferson ( born June 22, 1936 in Brownsville, Texas) is an American country singer, songwriter and actor.
The grandson of Swedish immigrants, was born as the son of Lars Henry Kristofferson and Mary Ann Ashbrook in Texas and moved to his childhood to often. He finished high school in San Mateo (California ) and attended Pomona College in California. Kristofferson was a Rhodes scholarship to Merton College, University of Oxford. In England, where he recorded his first pieces of music under the name Kris Karson, he was initially unsuccessful.
After his graduation in English Literature 1960, he married his childhood girlfriend Fran Beer. He joined the U.S. Army and was a helicopter pilot. From 1962 to 1965 he was stationed in Bad Kreuznach. Then should inform Kristofferson literature at the United States Military Academy at West Point (New York). However, in 1965 he left the army and moved to Nashville (Tennessee ) to begin a career as a musician in the Mecca of country music. He earned his living first with odd jobs. As an oesophageal disorder of his son, the family also burdened financially, his wife filed for divorce.
Career
1966 He finally succeeded in a first small success with the edited by Dave Dudley Single Viet Nam Blues. Then Roger Miller Me and Bobby McGee took on, and Johnny Cash finally realized Kristofferson's talent and made 1970 Sunday Morning Coming Down to a number-one hit on the country charts. Kristofferson was signed to Monument Records. The blues singer Janis Joplin Me and Bobby McGee made world famous, and Kristofferson was a singer with songs like Loving Her Was Easier and Why Me also successful. 1972 his composition Help Me Make It Through the Night Award version of Sammi Smith with two Grammys. Kristofferson was working with producer and label owner Fred Foster together until July 1982.
In 1973 he married the singer Rita Coolidge. The two, who have a child together, were also successful as a duet; three times they were recognized as the best duo a Grammy. The marriage was divorced in 1980 due to increasing alcohol problems Kristofferson. Since 1983, he is married to Lisa Meyers, the family lives with her five children since 1992 on the Hawaiian island of Maui.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Kristofferson, who has been involved among other things, the Sandinistas in Nicaragua joined, reinforced with political songs like Sandinista, Do not Let the Bastards (Get You Down ) or The Eagle & The Bear in appearance.
International successes recorded Kristofferson from 1985 to 1995 as a member of the country band The Highwaymen, along with his longtime friends Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.
At the CMA Awards show 2004, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, he is also a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. After a long break, Kristofferson announced back in March 2006 with the album This Old Road, 2009 still followed Closer to the Bone.
In 2012 he published at the age of 76 years under his own label, the album Feeling Mortal. He was also on tour in Europe and entered among others in November 2012 in Vienna and Graz.
Instruments
Kris Kristofferson plays preferably Acoustic Guitars by Gibson, mainly J -45 models. In his honor, the company brought out the Kristofferson SJ- have signature guitar.
Kristofferson as an actor
In addition to his musical career, Kristofferson is also active as a film actor since the 1970s. In 1971 he gave a small role in The Last Movie, his film debut in Cisco Pike, in which he starred opposite Gene Hackman starred. In 1974, Alice does not live here anymore, another film, which the actress Ellen Burstyn earned an Oscar. In 1976, he starred in the remake of A Star Is Born on the side of Barbra Streisand. For this role, he was awarded a Golden Globe, he was also nominated for an Oscar.
Frequently Kristofferson was as the lead in the late Western Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid or Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate to see. In Convoy, he embodied the truckers Rubber Duck, in the Blade series, he starred as Abraham Whistler. In Heaven 's Gate by Michael Cimino, he played the lead role. Also worth mentioning is his role as Ringo Kid in hell journey to Lordsburg ( Stagecoach ), where he appeared alongside his fellow Highwaymen Cash, Nelson and Jennings.