Knowledge Seeker
  • Home
  • Articles

Image Buster (Kris Kristofferson)

5/18/2012

7 Comments

 
I don’t know how many people remember Kris but he’s an actor, musician, singer, and song writer. His biggest hit was the song: “Me and Bobby McGee” and his breakout movie was: “A Star is Born” with Barbara Streisand.  

Mr. Kristofferson has a rebel image; almost always wearing a jean jacket and having long hair (basically a hippie). He wasn’t at all the Hollywood type and instead loved hanging out with the blue collar crowd. He preferred biker bars over martini bars and trying to get him into a tuxedo for an award show was like trying to put shoes on Tom Sawyer! 
 
I included “image buster” in my title for a reason because I’m getting ready to share a part of Kris that he didn’t want people to know. His accomplishments before breaking into the music business are way beyond amazing but there was a reason he wanted to keep them hidden from the public which I'll share in a moment. Prepared to be blown away:

1) Kris' father was a Major General in the Air Force (for those of you not familiar with the military he was a real bigwig), so he moved around a lot including to other countries.

2) While in college he was featured in a Sports Illustrated article because of how great he was at football, rugby, and track.

3) He graduated college “Suma Cum Laude.” Basically this means he’s brilliant.

4) He earned the coveted “Rhodes Scholar” to attend Oxford University in London, England. Besides being an academic wonder boy while there he also became a great boxer for the university. 
 
5) He wrote a novel before arriving at Oxford.

6) He joined the Army and became a Captain. While in the Army he flew helicopters and he was an elite Army Ranger.

7) He was so admired in the Army they ashed him to become a professor at West Point. He declined their offer and chose instead to pursue a music career. This decision fractured his relationship with his father and as far as I know, they never reconciled.

8) Kris has been in over 70 television shows and movies. A few of his most famous movies, besides “A Star Is Born” are: “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” and "Blade."  

As I mentioned earlier, very few people know these things about him and it was intentional on his part. Music was so important to him and he realized if people knew his extraordinary background he wouldn’t successfully break into the music business. Music fans want to believe the person singing has actually lived what their singing about. If people knew Kris was a prodigy they wouldn’t be able to relate to him.

Breaking into the music industry is practically impossible. The fact is, we’ll probably never hear the greatest artists because they couldn't get their feet in the door at one of the record labels. YouTube has revolutionized this process because it allows artists a way to bypass the numerous gate keepers that major record companies' have. Music executives can now sit at their desks and review worldwide talent. Using the number of "views" is a great indicator as to what fans think.

Of course Kris didn't have this luxury when he was trying to break into the industry. He knew that it was important to be at the right place at the right time so he moved to Nashville realizing it would be a long shot but he had to try. 

He did all kinds of odd jobs in Nashville to keep him and his family afloat including doing some contract work for a helicopter service. His job was to get oil workers to and from their at-sea platforms. He did a lot of writing while hanging out on the oil rig. A few of these ended up being major hits including: “Help Me Make It Through The Night.” 

Then once again Kris showed his brilliance by getting a job as a janitor at Columbia Studios. Employees weren’t supposed to approach the stars but he worked his way in including getting Johnny Cash to read some of his songs. Mr. Cash was very impressed with Kris' work so the door began opening for him. For Kris' first three years in the business other artists were recording his material but finally Mercury Records gave him his own recording contract which was a dream come true for him. He did however end up being a way more accomplished song writer than singer.

I love this story about Kris Kristofferson because I wasn't a big fan of his until I researched his background. I think it’s very rare that someone can have so many extraordinary natural abilities and he actually did something with them. I believe Kris is one of the most (if not the most) extraordinary men in our lifetime. I also think this is one of the most perfect examples of: "You can't judge a book by its cover."    
   


7 Comments
Randy
5/19/2012 12:27:23 am

I can't believe the media somehow respected what he was trying to do versus exploiting his amazing bio.

Reply
Terri
5/21/2012 04:12:25 pm

Amazing story!

Reply
Kathy
5/26/2012 03:44:30 am

A documentary on Kris Kristofferson's life would be a lot better than most of what's on TV these days!

Reply
Becky
5/26/2012 04:43:23 am

One of the greatest stories never told!

Reply
Matt
5/29/2012 07:38:42 pm

Just by looking at him I had an entirely different opinion of who he was so his strategy worked. I am very happy though that I found out the real story about his life because I think he deserves recognition for his amazing accomplishments.

Reply
Chuck
6/16/2012 04:40:51 pm

I cannot believe he pulled this off. I can't help but think that with today's plugged in world, that he would be found out. What a talented guy.

Reply
Tim
7/28/2012 04:10:05 am

I miss the days of Paul Harvey where he'd share cool stuff like this!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author: John Mann

    Picture

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly