Kris Kristofferson, the award-winning country singer and actor, has died aged 88. Among his song writing credits are “Me and Bobby McGee”, “For the Good Times”, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”, and “Help Me Make It Through the Night”, all of which were hits for other artists. Along with fellow country artists Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash he was a key creative force in the outlaw country music movement that favoured independent songwriting and producing. He starred with Barbra Streisand in the 1976 remake of A Star is Born to great success as well more recently in the Blade trilogy of Marvel blockbusters.
He was born 22 June 1938 3.30pm Brownsville, Texas into a military family and initially hoped to become a writer. He won a Rhodes Scholarship to the University of Oxford and graduated with a B.Phil. degree in English literature. Under pressure from his family he joined the U.S. Army, becoming a helicopter pilot and continuing his musical interests at the same time. When he left the forces to pursue a musical career his family disowned him.
He married three times and has eight children.
His 10th house Leo Moon designed him for a public career but it is his intense 8th house which is the eye-opener with Mercury in Gemini plus a passionately enthusiastic Venus Mars conjunction in Gemini conjunct a Cancer Sun all there. He had Saturn in his 5th house giving him organizational skills in the entertainment business which was in a creative opposition to Neptune and square a confident and successful Jupiter in his 2nd house.
His Uranus on his Ascendant would not make it easy for a conventional cooperative relationship to run smoothly and with his Sun/Moon midpoint opposition his Pluto he’d be constantly pushed and pulled between wanting closeness and wanting freedom. But his third marriage lasted for nearly forty years so he clearly found a partner who could cope.
He once said he would like Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on the Wire” opener on his tombstone.
Like a bird on the wire
Like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free