Country music is mourning the loss of one of the genre’s biggest legends. Country Music Hall of Fame member Kris Kristofferson passed away on Saturday, September 28, at his home in Hawaii. Kristofferson was 88 years old when he died, surrounded by his family, at his home in Maui, Hawaii.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the news our husband/father/grandfather, Kris Kristofferson, passed away peacefully on Saturday, September 28 at home,” the family shares in a statement. “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.”

Kristofferson was born in Texas on June 22, 1936, Kristofferson began writing songs while still a child. Born into a military family, Kristofferson moved with his family multiple times throughout his childhood. After graduating college in California, where he played football, Kristofferson earned a Rhodes Scholarship and received his Masters in English Literature at University’s Merton College in 1960.

Kristofferson enlisted in the army after his time at Merton College, and became a skilled helicopter pilot. He was assigned to West Point, to teach literature, which Kristofferson was not initially excited about.

“It sounded like hell to me,” Kristofferson once said, per a press release.

It was a trip to Nashville in 1965, to meet with songwriter Marijohn Wilkin, which changed the entire trajectory of Kristofferson’s life. Fortuitously, on his first night in Music City, Kristofferson met Cowboy Jack Clement, kicking off a lifelong love of songwriting, and inspiring him to resign from the Army two weeks later to focus on a songwriting career.

It took four years, and many mediocre jobs, including working as a janitor, before Kristofferson got his first break, from Ray Stevens, who recorded one of Kristofferson’s most iconic songs, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” later also recorded by Johnny Cash. That song was followed by Roger Miller, who recorded the Kristofferson-penned song, “Me and Bobby McGee.”

At the encouragement of Fred Foster, who was at Monument Records at the time, Kristofferson pursued his own career as an artist, releasing more than 20 albums throughout his extensive career. In addition to his music career, Kristofferson also became a successful actor, appearing in A Star Is Born, Semi-Tough, Songwriter, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, Lone Star, and Blade, among others.

In 1985, Kristofferson joined Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson to form what became called The Highwaymen. It was an accomplishment Kristofferson was rightfully proud to have been part of.

“Every time I look at a picture of Willie and me and John and Waylon, I find it amazing that they let the janitor in there,” Kristofferson once said.

Kristofferson received many awards and accolades throughout his legendary career, including lifetime achievement honors from BMI, The Recording Academy, the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music, and more. But one of his proudest accomplishments was being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004.

“When I got started, I was one of the people hoping to bring respect to country music,” Kristofferson said. “Some of the songs I had that got to be hits did that. I imagine that’s why somebody might vote me into a Hall of Fame. I know it’s not because of my golden throat.”

Kyle Young, CEO of the Country Music Hall of Fame, spoke out about the loss of Kristofferson.

“Kris Kristofferson believed to his core that creativity is God-given, and that those who ignore or deflect such a holy gift are doomed to failure and unhappiness,” Young said. “He preached that a life of the mind gives voice to the soul, and then he created a body of work that gave voice not only to his soul but to ours. Kris’s heroes included the prize fighter Muhammad Ali, the great poet William Blake, and the ‘Hillbilly Shakespeare,’ Hank Williams. He lived his life in a way that honored and exemplified the values of each of those men, and he leaves a righteous, courageous and resounding legacy that rings with theirs.”

Kristofferson maintained a busy touring schedule until the world shut down because of the pandemic in 2020. He is survived by his wife, Lisa, eight children and seven grandchildren.

Funeral services have not been announced. Everything Nash extends our deepest condolences to his family.