Kris Kristofferson

Kristofferson has married thrice, and fathered eight children. His first two wives were his childhood sweetheart Frances Bier, and singer Rita Coolidge; he is now married to his third wife, Lisa Meyers.

Kristoffer Kristofferson was born on June 22, 1936 to Lars Henry Kristofferson, an Air Force Major General who retired from the military and joined the Saudi Arabian company Aramco, and Mary Ann.

He grew up mostly in Brownsville, Texas, but graduated from San Mateo High School, California in 1954. He joined Pomona College, Claremont, where he won a short story contest conducted by Atlantic Monthly magazine.

A brilliant sportsman and scholar, he completed his B.A in Literature. Armed with a Rhodes Scholarship, he joined Oxford University’s Merton College and obtained a B. Phil in English literature in 1960.

Kristofferson joined the army and was posted in West Germany during the early 1960s. In 1965, assigned to West Point military academy as an English instructor, he decided to resign from the Army to take up songwriting seriously.

Shifting to Nashville, he struggled to make ends meet. He succeeded as a songwriter with ‘Viet Nam Blues’ for singer, Dave Dudley, which made the Top 20 in 1966.

In the 1970s, Ray Stevens (‘Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down’), Jerry Lee Lewis (‘Once More with Feeling’), Ray Price (‘For the Good Times’), Sammi Smith (‘Help Me Make It Through the Night’) recorded his songs.

Though his debut album ‘Kristofferson’ had flopped, his second album ‘The Silver Tongued Devil and I’, released in 1971, did extremely well on the Country and Pop charts, and gave him recognition as a singer.

In 1971, he made his acting debut in Dennis Hopper’s ‘The Last Movie’, but got a starring role in the Bill Norton’s cult movie ‘Cisco Pike’. He played a failed musician-turned-drug peddler.

‘Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down’, penned by Kris Kristofferson was a hit for Ray Stevens, but Johnny Cash’s version of the song in 1970, topped the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles and won many awards.

‘Me and Bobby McGee‘ co- written by him, was a hit for Roger Miller and Johnny Cash, but Janis Joplin's version is pegged at No. 148 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs.

He portrayed a super star in the 1976 musical film, ‘A Star Is Born’. The soundtrack performed with co-star Barbra Streisand, certified 4 xs platinum, topped the Billboard 200 chart for six weeks.