Kris Kristofferson: Country icon is dead - Dolly Parton pays tribute to friend with "I will always love you"

DER SPIEGEL Kris Kristofferson: Country icon is dead - Dolly Parton pays tribute to friend with "I will always love you" 1 day • 2 minutes reading time He wrote hits for Janis Joplin, Elvis and Johnny Cash and brought a new tone to the country capital Nashville. At the same time, he enjoyed success as an actor. Kris Kristofferson has now died at the age of 88. The US country singer and songwriter Kris Kristofferson has died. He died peacefully at home on Saturday at the age of 88: his family announced this on Sunday (local time). Kristofferson was considered one of the most important songwriters of all time. His songs were sung by music legends such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Joan Baez, Willie Nelson, Janis Joplin and Ray Charles. He was also successful in film and television. There was initially no information about the cause of his death. "We are all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all those many years and when you see a rainbow, know that he is smiling down on all of us," the family said in a statement. It was made on behalf of Kristofferson's wife Lisa, his eight children Tracy, Kris Jr., Casey, Jesse, Jody, John, Kelly and Blake, and his seven grandchildren. Kristofferson was born in June 1936 in Brownsville in the very south of Texas. He studied at Oxford University in the UK on a scholarship for highly gifted students and initially wanted to be a writer. When he was unsuccessful, he became a helicopter pilot in the US military and was stationed in Bad Kreuznach (Rhineland-Palatinate) from 1962 to 1965. The grandson of Swedish immigrants then went to the stronghold of country music, Nashville. Kristofferson was soon on stage alongside Bob Dylan and writing one hit after another, including "Sunday Morning Coming Down" and "Help Me Make It Through the Night." Kristofferson brought a new tone to Nashville: people had always sung about alcohol, broken love and even more alcohol. Kristofferson added sex and drugs to that, which was tantamount to a revolution. He, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson shook up the conservative Nashville establishment as the "Outlaws" in the early 1970s. In 1985, the four formed the country supergroup The Highwaymen. They recorded three best-selling albums. Kristofferson also became a celebrated film star. He appeared in Martin Scorsese's film "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore" (1974), as well as in "A Star Is Born" (1976) and "Blade" (1998). Country star Dolly Parton said goodbye to her deceased colleague with emotional words: "What a great loss, what a great writer, what a great actor, what a great friend," she wrote on her Instagram account on Monday night. And continued: "I will always love you, Dolly."