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Kris Kristofferson dies aged 88

The musician and actor Kris Kristofferson has died at the age of 88.

The legendary country singer turned haggard movie star "passed away peacefully" at his home in Maui, Hawaii on Saturday, according to a statement released by his family on Sunday.

"We're all so blessed for our time with him," the statement, which was signed by his wife Lisa, his eight children and seven grandchildren, according to The Guardian, read. "Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he's smiling down at us all."

After abandoning a military career for music in the mid 1960s, Kristofferson wrote songs that were hits for artists including Janis Joplin, Gladys Knight, and Johnny Cash, as well as topping the country music charts.

He received the best country song Grammy Award in 1971 for writing Help Me Make It Through the Night, which became a hit when covered by Sammi Smith, and also won in 1973 and 1975 for his duets with then-wife Rita Coolidge, From the Bottle to the Bottom, and Lover Please. He also received an Academy Award nomination for best original score for Alan Rudolph's Songwriter.

In the 1970s he also branched out into acting, winning a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Barbra Streisand's mentor and love interest in the 1976 remake of A Star is Born. He also starred in Martin Scorsese's Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore, and Sam Peckinpah's Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid, among other films. To a new generation he was known for his role as Abraham Whistler in three Blade movies.

In 1985, Kristofferson reteamed with Cash, as well as another old collaborator Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson to form the pioneering country supergroup The Highwaymen, releasing three albums.

Kristofferson was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1985, the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004 and was given the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2014.

Photo: Cover Media
Source: Cover Media
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