As USA TODAY was informed by a spokeswoman for Kristofferson, the singer passed away on Saturday at his Maui, Hawaii, home. No reason for the death was stated.
The Kristofferson family released a statement saying, “It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband, father, and grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on Saturday, September 28 at home.”
Despite having a voice he compared to “a frog,” Kristofferson recorded over 20 studio albums and performed in the outlaw country band The Highwaymen from 1985 to 1995 alongside the country music industry’s greatest stars, including Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson.
A former Golden Gloves boxer and Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, Kristofferson made a lasting impression on cinema screens in the 1970s as the impeccably disheveled, bearded leading man. The love lead in Martin Scorsese’s 1974 movie “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” was one of his genuine roles.
The former great college football player costarred with Burt Reynolds in the pro football comedy “Semi-Tough” in 1977. She also played a truck driver who defied authority in Sam Peckinpah’s road-action comedy “Convoy.”
Kristofferson, the oldest of Maj. Gen. Henry Kristofferson’s three children, was born in Brownsville, Texas, on June 22, 1936.
After a while, Kristofferson’s military family relocated to San Mateo, California, where he attended San Mateo High School, graduating in 1954. He became a student at Claremont, California’s Pomona College.
There, he was a legendary player for the football and rugby teams. He also was sports editor of the collegiate newspaper.
The Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC) alumnus postponed his Army duty to attend Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and study British literature. After returning to the United States, Kristofferson married Frances Beer, his high school sweetheart, and they went on to have two children together. He also completed Ranger School and obtained a helicopter piloting license.
While his battalion was getting ready to deploy to Vietnam in 1965, Capt. Kristofferson was appointed to the West Point literary faculty. Rather, he gave up his commission to focus on becoming a songwriter in Nashville. He began his career at Columbia Recording Studios as a janitor and bartender.
