KRIS IN 1978. HAPPY 80 BIRTHDAY! |
Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is an American singer, songwriter, musician
and actor. He wrote and recorded the hit songs "Me and Bobby McGee,"
"For the Good Times," "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" and
"Help Me Make It Through the Night." Kristofferson composed his own
songs and collaborated with Nashville songwriters such as Shel Silverstein. In 1985, Kristofferson joined fellow country artists Waylon
Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash in forming the country music supergroup
The Highwaymen. In 2004, Kristofferson was inducted into the Country Music Hall
of Fame. He is also known for his starring roles in Alice Doesn't Live Here
Anymore and A Star Is Born, the latter for which he won a Golden
Globe Award for Best Actor.
"Me and Bobby McGee" is
a song written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, originally performed by Roger
Miller. Others performed the song later, including the Grateful Dead,
Kristofferson himself, Kenny Rogers and
The First Edition and most famously by Janis Joplin, whose posthumously
released version topped the U.S. singles chart in 1971, making the song the
second posthumously released No. 1 single in U.S. chart history after "(Sittin'
On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding. Billboard ranked Joplin's
version as the No. 11 song for 1971.