Influential American country music singer-songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson was born on June 22, 1936 in Brownsville, Texas. He graduated from San Mateo High School and experienced his first taste of fame appearing in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd.” This was due to his athletic achievements in Pomona College. He was also an aspiring writer, and earned a Rhodes scholarship to Oxford University. He began writing songs and recorded for Top Rank Records, but was unsuccessful in his early career in music.
He graduated in 1960, and eventually joined the U.S. Army due to the wishes of his father, an Air Force major general. Kris Kristofferson achieved the rank of general and also became a helicopter pilot. During the early 1960s, he returned to music and formed a band. He showed great intent on becoming a professional songwriter in 1965, when he moved to Nashville. In 1966, his song “Viet Nam Blues” was released and Kris Kristofferson was signed with Epic Records in the year that followed. More of his songs hit the charts and he achieved some success as a performer as well.
Kris Kristofferson also signed to Monument Records as a recording artist, with his debut album called Kristofferson. Sales were poor at first, but became a success when it was re-released the following year as Me & Bobby McGee.
His acting career began when he appeared in Blume in Love and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid in 1973. Kristofferson was also in Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia and The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, a film based on a novel by Yukio Mishima. He starred with Barbra Streisand in A Star is Born. He did not receive much success in his next films Freedom Road and Heaven’s Gate in 1980.
He released an album called Full Moon in 1973. This produced numerous hit singles and received many Grammy nominations. His fifth album Spooky Lady’s Slideshow was a failure, but in 2004, he was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2006, he received the Johnny Mercer Award form the Songwriters Hall of Fame and released his first album in 11 years, This Old Road. In 2007 he was awarded the Johnny Cash Visionary Award in Nashville.