‘Barefoot and strumming his guitar, he seemed like the perfect choice for … A Star Is Born’
Barbra Streisand paid tribute to Kris Kristofferson following the country music legend’s death Saturday at age 88.
She continued, “In the movie, Kris and I sang the song I’d written for the film’s main love theme, “Evergreen.” For my latest concert in 2019 at London’s Hyde Park, I asked Kris to join me on-stage to sing our other A Star Is Born duet, “Lost Inside Of You.” He was as charming as ever, and the audience showered him with applause. It was a joy seeing him receive the recognition and love he so richly deserved.”
Streisand ended her tribute by sending her thoughts to Kristofferson’s wife, Lisa, “who I know supported him in every way possible.”
In their 1976 version, Kristofferson played a self-destructive musician who falls in love with aspiring singer (Streisand).
The film was a box office smash and Streisand’s Evergreen went on to win the Oscar for best original song.
Other music stars paid tribute to Kristofferson, including Dolly Parton, with whom he sang From Here to the Moon and Back and Put It Off Until Tomorrow.
“What a great loss What a great writer What a great actor What a great friend. I will always love you, Dolly,” Parton shared on her Instagram Story.
“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on Saturday, Sept. 28 at home. We’re all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all,” his family said in a statement.
In addition to acting in films like Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Cisco Pike, Heaven’s Gate and the Blade series, Kristofferson was a respected country music singer and songwriter, penning hits for Janis Joplin (Me and Bobby McGee) and Johnny Cash (Sunday Morning Coming Down), and writing his own classics, including Help Me Make it Through the Night and For the Good Times.
“Shaking his hand when I was still in the Army backstage at the Grand Ole Opry was the moment I’d decided I’d come back,” Kristofferson said. “It was electric. He kind of took me under his wing before he cut any of my songs. He cut my first record that was record of the year. He put me on stage the first time.”
“There’s no better songwriter alive than Kris Kristofferson,” Willie Nelson said at a 2009 BMI award ceremony honouring Kristofferson. “Everything he writes is a standard and we’re all just going to have to live with that.”
In the mid-80s, he formed the country supergroup The Highwaymen alongside Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings.
In 2021, Kristofferson quietly retired from touring after more than 50 years.
“It was just sort of a slow changing of the guard thing,” Saviano said. “To us on this side of the fence it was an organic, normal, ‘things are changing’ thing. Kris is aging; Kris is 84. It didn’t feel like such big news to us.”