Kris Kristofferson, who became one of the most influential American singer-songwriters of his time as well as a successful actor, died on Saturday at the age of 88, according to a family statement.
The star had been experiencing debilitating memory loss in his 70s, with doctors telling him in 2004 it appeared to be the onset of Alzheimers disease or dementia, possibly brought on by blows to the head while boxing and playing football and rugby in his younger days.
He suffered cognitive decline for more than a decade until he was finally diagnosed with Lyme disease, which can cause memory problems, Kristoffersons wife, Lisa Meyers, told Rolling Stone magazine in 2016.
She said that after treatment and stopping Alzheimers medication, his memory began to return partially.
Lisa said that her husband had been suffering with a plethora of symptoms for years, until an integrative doctor examined him and connected the twitching muscles in his arms to the tick-borne Lyme disease in February 2016.
Kris Kristofferson (left) is survived by his spouse Lisa (pictured), eight children and seven grandchildren (pictured together in 2014 in Beverly Hills, California)
The Why Me artist was pictured in concert in London in July of 2019
Kristofferson retired from performing and recording in 2021, making only occasional guest appearances on stage. Pictured in 2017 in Nashville
Tracy Kristofferson, Kris Kristofferson and Lisa Meyers arrives at the Cesar Chavez 2015 Legacy Awards at Westin Bonaventure Hotel on March 26, 2015 in Los Angeles, California
About 12 years ago he was diagnosed with fibromyalgia, which looking back, should have been the first indication that a test for Lyme was warranted, Lisa said in an interview with Lymedisease.org, also in 2016.
But we suspect hes been infected with Lyme anywhere from fourteen to thirty years [ago] because he used to have these chronic muscle spasms, which is a common symptom.
Kristofferson lived hard during his heyday. There was a long line of girlfriends and performances he could not remember because he was drunk.
He gave up drinking - but not marijuana - when a doctor told him he was killing himself.
It was fun, Kristofferson told 60 Minutes. It was the way that I thought an artist was supposed to live. I always agreed with Blake when he said that the road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom. ... I think God protects fools and songwriters.
Kristofferson was a Renaissance man - an athlete with a poets sensibilities, a former Army officer and helicopter pilot, a Rhodes scholar who took a job as a janitor in what turned out to be a brilliant career move.
Kristofferson first established himself in the music world as a songwriter in the country music capital of Nashville - writing hits such as the Grammy-winning Help Me Make It Through the Night, For the Good Times, and one-time girlfriend Janis Joplins plaintive No. 1 hit, Me and Bobby McGee.
In the early 1970s he became well-known as a performer with a rumbling, unpolished baritone, as well as an in-demand actor, notably opposite Barbra Streisand in A Star Is Born, one of the most popular films of 1976.
Kristofferson was born in Brownsville, Texas, on June 22, 1936, and moved frequently because his father was a general in the Air Force.
Kris Kristofferson pictured with his wife Lisa in 2013
Kris Kristofferson, an accomplished singer and songwriter who starred in A Star Is Born, has died at the age of 88. Pictured in Nashville in 2017
After graduating from Pomona College in California, where he played football and rugby, Kristofferson attended Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship and then fulfilled the family tradition by joining the Army.
He went through the Armys elite Ranger School, learned to pilot helicopters and reached the rank of captain.
In 1965 Kristofferson was offered a position teaching English - he was enthralled by the works of poet William Blake - at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York, but he turned it down in order to head to Nashville.
Kristofferson became a janitor at the Columbia Records studio because it would give him a chance to offer his songs to the big-name stars recording there.
He also worked as a helicopter pilot ferrying workers between Louisiana oilfields and offshore drilling rigs.
During that time Kristofferson wrote some of his most memorable songs, including Help Me Make It Through the Night, which he said he penned atop an oil platform.
His most audacious song pitch came when he landed his helicopter on Johnny Cashs lawn - although he denied Cashs version of him climbing out of the cockpit with an audio tape in one hand and a beer in the other.
Cash would later have a No. 1 hit with Kristoffersons Sunday Morning Comin Down lament.
Kristoffersons best songs were filled with seekers, wastrels and broken souls trying to find love, redemption or relief from the hangover that life had given them.
Jon Peters, Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson pictured in NYC December 22, 1976
Grammy-winning singer and actor Kris Kristofferson is pictured in 2005 during a concert
Rita Coolidge and Kristofferson pictured in a special titled Mac Davis: I Believe In Music in November of 1973
The broken-hearted narrator of Bobby McGee, a song Kristofferson said was inspired by the Federico Fellini film La Strada, summed it up with the line, Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose.
Kris brought (country music) kind of from the dark ages up to the present-day time, made it acceptable and brought great lyrics - I mean, the best possible lyrics, Willie Nelson, an early role model for Kristofferson, told CBSs 60 Minutes in a 1999 interview. Simple but profound.
Kristofferson recorded four albums with Rita Coolidge, the second of his three wives, in the 1970s and joined Nelson, Cash and Waylon Jennings in the country music super group the Highwaymen in the 1980s and 90s.
Kristoffersons rugged good looks led to roles in movies such as Cisco Pike, Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, Convoy, Heavens Gate, Lone Star and Blade.
After his initial stardom, Kristofferson took on causes such as the United Farm Workers and spoke out against U.S. government involvement in Nicaragua and El Salvador in the 1980s.
Kristofferson kept active with a 2016 tour that included performances with Nelson and stops in Europe. That year he also marked his 80th birthday by releasing The Cedar Creek Sessions, an album featuring live versions of his best-known songs.
A family spokesperson said in a statement that Kristofferson died peacefully at his home in Maui, Hawaii, surrounded by family, but a cause of death was not listed.
Kristofferson and his third wife, Lisa, whom he married in 1983, lived on the Hawaiian island of Maui for more than 30 years. He had eight children.