#artist: gladys knight & the pips | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

vintage-tech · 3 months ago

Text

If you're of a certain age, you remember the ads for the compilation albums by Ronco and K-Tel -- "20 original hits by the original stars" was always the tagline -- but there were other companies out there putting out mixtapes on vinyl, like Sessions, and then there is this two-record collections by a company called I & M Teleproducts which has 23 releases listed in Discogs.com -- several of which are Lawrence Welk, but many of which are contemporary collections.

Dreamin' is from 1979 and I approve of the tracklist. While Ronco was putting Wild Cherry's "Play That Funky Music" and Barry Manilow on the same record, or K-Tel was mining the latter half of the Top 100 with Forgotten Charting Singles By Major Artists, I & M was attempting to stay a bit more on-topic and contained mostly music that neither of the bigger names had tapped but you knew. And being a two-record set, you felt like you got twice as much tunage when actually you didn't (21 songs) but there was a better chance of higher quality sound due to the uncompressed groove on the vinyl. It's up to personal opinion whether the line "21 original hits by 18 original artists" sounds impressive, especially since the songs by those repeated artists have been pretty much forgotten.

Here's the track list and you do know many of them:

A1 Samantha Sang– Emotion A2 Dan Hill– Sometimes When We Touch A3 Gladys Knight & The Pips– Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me A4 David Soul– Don't Give Up On Us A5 Paul Anka– The Times Of Your Life B1 Kenny Nolan– I Like Dreamin' B2 Gladys Knight & The Pips– The Way We Were B3 Atlanta Rhythm Section– So Into You B4 Mary MacGregor– Torn Between Two Lovers B5 Jessi Colter– I'm Not Lisa C1 Peter McCann– Do You Wanna Make Love C2 Eric Carmen– All By Myself C3 Jennifer Warnes– Right Time Of The Night C4 LeBlanc & Carr– Falling C5 England Dan & John Ford Coley– Nights Are Forever Without You C6 Daryl Hall & John Oates– She's Gone D1 Roberta Flack– The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face D2 Paul Anka– There's Nothing Stronger Than Our Love D3 Dorothy Moore– Misty Blue D4 The Spinners– They Just Can't Stop It (The Games People Play) D5 Gladys Knight & The Pips– So Sad The Song

Trivia: The Bee Gees wrote "Emotion" though didn't record it themselves for many years. David Soul was Hutch on the TV show Starsky & Hutch. Many of us can't help but think of Kodak film ads in regard to "The Times Of Your Life". Peter McCann technically makes two appearances on this list because he also wrote "Right Time Of The Night". "The Way We Were" is a Barbra Streisand cover from a 1973 movie by the same name, and the spoken introduction to the Gladys Knight song is "Try To Remember" from the long-running 1960 Broadway musical The Fantasticks.

#technology #vintage #1970s #music #record

10 notes · View notes

dreaminginthedeepsouth · 1 year ago

Text

youtube

Random Music - Marvin Gaye - Heard It Through the Grapevine (Acapella)

Song of the Day - “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” 55 Years Ago Today, on December 14th, 1968, Marvin Gaye’s cover of the Norman Whitfield-Barrett Strong song “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” hit #1 on both the Billboard R&B Chart and the Billboard Hot 100 Chart, where it would reign for seven weeks! When the duo wrote it, Motown had several of their star artists record it - Smokey’s Miracles, the Isley Brothers, and Marvin Gaye. But the boss, Berry Gordy, didn’t any of these versions. Whitfield had Gladys Knight and the Pips do it, and it was a smash hit. After this hit, somehow Gordy got talked into releasing Marvin Gaye’s version almost a year later, on one of Gaye’s albums. Deejays heard the track and began spinning it. It started to spark. So, Motown quickly cut a single. Marvin had had 30 singles make the charts, but this was his very first #1. It became Motown’s biggest selling single to date, and has since been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

[Mary Elaine LeBey]

#Marvin Gaye #Heard It Through The Grapevine #songs #music #motown #acapella #singing #Youtube

19 notes · View notes

lboogie1906 · 9 days ago

Text

Sam Dees (December 17, 1945) is a soul singer, songwriter, and record producer. He released several albums throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s; as a composer, he has written hundreds of songs for many music artists.

He was born in Birmingham into a large family and distinguished himself with his voice. At the age of nine, and already champion of several singing contests, he founded his vocal group, the Bossanovians.

As a teenager he traveled to perform and, in 1968 he recorded his first single at Nashville, Tennessee’s SSS International. He released his next few singles on Lolo Records. Chess Records producer, Lenny Sachs, allowed him to self-produce two singles on the Chess label, which he recorded in a former church in Birmingham. From there, he began recording for Atlantic, which released his landmark album, The Show Must Go On in 1975.

His recording career stalled while he wrote hits for other singers, such as “Am I Dreaming” (Atlantic Starr), “One in a Million You” (Larry Graham), “Save the Overtime (For Me)” (Gladys Knight & the Pips), “Love All the Hurt Away” (George Benson and Aretha Franklin), and “Lover for Life” (Whitney Houston).

He wrote the song “Just The Lonely Talking Again”, which was originally recorded by the American R&B vocal group The Manhattans and recorded by Whitney Houston.

He released a solo single titled “After All” and the accompanying album, Secret Admirer.

He continues to write and produce. He released recordings on his Pen Pad label and recorded for Ardent Records in England. Another English label, Kent Records, has released early recordings. Other previously unissued recordings from the early 1970s are planned for release by Selecta Records, whose parent company Millbrand Music controls the copyrights to many of Dees’ early songs.

His song “Lonely for You Baby” was used and referenced in the British surf movie, Blue Juice. (1995). #africanhistory365 #africanexcellence

2 notes · View notes

gone2soon-rip · 2 years ago

Photo

BARRETT STRONG (1941-Died January 29th 2023,at 81). American singer and songwriter. Strong was the first artist to record a hit for Motown,Money (That’s What I Want),which reached No.2 in the 1960 US R&B Billboard., although he is best known for his work as a songwriter, particularly in association with producer Norman Whitfield.Among his most famous work at Motown, Strong wrote the lyrics for many of the songs recorded by the Temptations.Writing alongside Norman Whitfield,he co wrote some of Motown’s greatest hits,including ‘i Heard It Through the Grapevine’ for both Marvin Gaye,and for Gladys Knight & the Pips, ‘War’,for Edwin Starr,Everywhere I Lay My Hat (That’s My Home) for Paul Young,and many hits for The Temptations,including ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone’. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrett_Strong

#Barrett Strong #American Musicians #Musicians #Music Legends #Motown #American Songwriters #Songwriters #Norman Whitfield #Motown Legends #Notable Deaths in 2023 #Notable Deaths in January 2023

41 notes · View notes

odk-2 · 2 years ago

Text

Barrett Strong 1941 - 2023

Barrett Strong February 5, 1941 – January 29, 2023

American Singer | Songwriter Grammy Award Winner | Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductee

Best Known for His Work as a Songwriter at Motown Primarily working as a lyricist, in collaboration with producer Norman Whitfield

Partial List of Barrett Strong/Norman Whitfield Works: Marvin Gaye - I Heard It Through the Grapevine Edwin Starr - War The Temptations: Cloud Nine | Ball of Confusion | Papa was a Rollin' Stone | I Can't Get Next to You | Runaway Child, Running Wild Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)

+++ +++ +++

Barrett Strong, Motown Artist and Temptations Songwriter, Dead at 81 - RollingStone Artist sang Motown’s first major hit "Money (That's What I Want)"

Barrett Strong, singer, songwriter and Motown’s first star, dies aged 81 - The Guardian Strong sang on the label’s first hit "Money…" in 1960 and went on to co-write landmark songs including Heard It Through the Grapevine and War

Barrett Strong, Motown Singer and Temptations Songwriter, Dies at 81 - Pitchfork Strong’s 1959 hit “Money (That’s What I Want)” was covered by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin

Barrett Strong - Wikipedia

#Barrett Strong #Music History #Motown #Obituary #Norman Whitfield #I Heard It Through the Grapevine #Berry Gordy #Janie Bradford #1960's #1970's #The Temptations

15 notes · View notes

adevotedappraisal · 2 years ago

Text

Who Is The Living Queen Of Soul?

You can vote on the Queen on the R&B subreddit here

In particular, the death of singer Aretha Franklin in August 2018 left a gash in the collective cultural psyche of America, a deepening crevice that I believe worsens the longer the title of Queen of Soul music is left uninhabited.

Upon reflection, it becomes apparent that what Aretha’s reign of Soul music most importantly did was to codify the musical textures, vocal phrasing and techniques of presentation comprise Soul music and R&B in general. Since her death, R&B music has given me a curious, rudderless impression, as if waiting for a style to settle upon, or for an emotion clear enough to spin into a groove of sentiment. What the genre needs, is a refocusing of its strengths, that broad-chested arrogance that imagination brings and the polestar of excellence that only a queen can bring. Therefore, it begs the question: who is the living Queen of Soul?

Four candidates come to my mind when thinking of living embodiments of the genre of Soul music: Gladys Knight, Patti LaBelle, Chaka Khan and Mary J. Blige. These women have each created multiple classic Soul, R&B and Disco records, spanning multiple generations, each one with enough lasting resonance to be sampled in prominent Hip-Hop records. They exemplify the genre, but with their own idiosyncratic strong points, and would chart a disparate course for the future of R&B if one was chosen as Queen of Soul over the other.

To many, especially in the American South, Gladys Knight would be their reflexive choice, the Southern Georgia bred voice that, between 1957 and 1987 powered her group The Pips 19 top 20 R&B hits with 16 of those becoming top 20 Pop hits. She imbued a deep pathos of longing on songs “Help Me Get Through The Night,” “If I Was Your Woman” and the classic “Midnight Train To Georgia.” Her church-taut control of her alto voice is the engine of the group's biggest hits, that reign brightest during her Motown years of 1966 to 1973, her languished phrasing falling out of favour by the late Seventies, over-shadowed by Disco and Pop hits, the Eighties only yielding one minor hit for the group with “Love Overboard.”

While her Sixties masterpieces have been sampled by the late J Dilla to 2000s rapper Freeway, I’m not sure that her vocal phrasing or songcraft has influence on the current generation of singers, and a choice for her would signal a traditionalist desire to return to the classic sound of Soul music, which might not be such a bad thing all things considered.

Ms. Patti LaBelle has been around just as long as Gladys, and, truth be told, is the voice I am slightly biased towards when I think of R&B. her voice contains a range of voices, from the high-pitched screams of adoration of “My Love, Sweet Love” to the hot scat at the end of “You Are My Friend.” Her voice is a sweet glue that powered her group The Bluebelle to early Sixties hits like “I Gave My Heart To The Junkman” and “The Wedding Song,” which helped to standardise the Rhythm & Blues genre in the process.

What she is missing is notable songs between 1966 and 1974, when Soul music was in heyday, with hits by Aretha, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. As a Pop culture figure though, she has endured, her songs covered by Christina Aguilera and sampled on classic Rap songs by Outkast and Nelly. Her voice is instantly recognizable, still a mainstay on quiet storm radio, an elemental thread in the perception of Soul music today. Her ad libs at the end of her hit “If Only You Knew” are legendary, each syllable coming hot and incandescent from her throat into our ears.

If you were looking for a queen that can bridge the old and new idioms of Soul then you would be looking for Chaka Khan. Rising to prominence with funk band Rufus with the number one hit “Tell Me Something Good” from 1974, producing 12 top 20 R&B hits with the band.

As a solo artist she was on the cutting edge of R&B, utilising the latest drum machines and synths, like on number one Pop hit “I Feel For You,” and on “Through The Fire,” famously sampled by Kanye West. Khan’s voice is an electric and druggy funk, perfect for the weird 70s and the messed-up party of the 80s. I love how she phrases sorrow and wonder, with yelps and deep layered harmonies, her wild voice writhing like the untamed want underneath Soul music itself. While she isn’t as big of a household name as others on this list, none of them were as adventurous with their sexiness as Chaka.

From her debut “What’s The 411?” Mary J Blige was a generational talent. The rough-hewn vocals expressed a working class anguish and joy that connected with young Gen X Black women looking for an alternative to Whitney Houston and Anita Baker. With her 1992 number one hit “Real Love and her hit “Be Happy” from her sophomore album, she fit in the pocket of those Hip-Hop drums, threading her runs around them.

Of the women mentioned here, Mary J Blige has consistently been on the charts the longest, a presence though the 90s, 2000s, 2010s and the 2020s with her latest album “Good Morning Gorgeous.” She had early 90s rap trendsetter Grand Puba on her debut album and buzzed-about rappers from the Griselda label on her latest. While she was not active during the 70s zenith of Soul music, Blige knows where her voice is most effective, and always has her finger on the pulse of current music. Could it be she is the queen our 21st century needs?

Aretha’s death hit me harder than I thought it would, for reasons I outlined here, but the vacuum she left has been felt as well when it comes to the state of R&B. Does it return to conservative roots with a play to its true strengths of musicianship and gospel-esque ad libs, or does it embrace the brave new world of technological improvements, production and vocals that create a ‘vibe’ to be mixed into streaming playlists? Well, only a queen can answer that.

#Soul #rnb #rnbmusic #gladys knight #patti labelle #chaka khan #mary j blige #music #black women

6 notes · View notes

cyarskj52 · 2 years ago

Text

Nicole whatshername needs to pay for her crimes against the group for treating them like they’re the pips to her Gladys knight where unlike Gladys Knight she’s not that good group lead vocalist or solo artist

1 note · View note

omegaplus · 2 years ago

Text

# 4,337

Gladys Knight & The Pips: “The Way We Were” / “Try To Remember” b/w The Need To Be” Dutch 7″ (1974, 1975)

One of the best ways to learn about a legendary hip-hop album and look into an artist or group is to thumb through their samples. Peel off the thuggish, up-to-no-good veneer of Wu-Tang Clan’s “Can It Be All So Simple” (’93) and you’re listening to a sentimental part of their lives. These were the classics they listened to growing up at home or on the AM in their mamma’s ride, then later on sampled their memories on wax. The Wu-Tang Clan’s early years were laden with Sixties and Seventies soul, R&B, and jazz gold and nothing but. Gladys Knight & The Pips’ “The Way We Were” / “Try To Remember” was a beautiful mother of an original and had to be one of the most recognizable moments of the album, becoming hip-hop sampling legend post-Enter The 36 Chambers. If the -Knight & -Pips fan in you doesn’t hold this single in high regard, the hip-hop fan in you would.

#Gladys Knight & The Pips #soul #R&B #Wu-Tang Clan #sampling #samples #hip-hop #rap #omega #music #mixtapes #reviews #playlists

1 note · View note

cyarsk52-20 · 1 day ago

Text

merry Christmas everyone

In my house no Christmas is complete without Christmas songs like the Jackson’s five version of “Santa claus is coming to town “ , the temptation version of “silent night “ and this classic tune

"This Christmas" is a song by American soul musician Donny Hathaway released in 1970 by Atco Records.The song gained renewed popularity when it was included in 1991 on Atco Records' revised edition of their 1968 Soul Christmascompilation album and has since become a modern Christmas standard, with the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers reporting that it was the 30th most-performed holiday song of all time.

Phil Upchurch said the song was "absolutely the premiere holiday song written by an African American". It was written by Hathaway and Nadine McKinnor.

"This Christmas" was recorded at Audio Finishers Studio on Ontario Street, Chicago in the fall of 1970. Ric Powell (see credits below) said that Hathaway was "very upbeat during the session" and that he "knew what he wanted to do musically and the impact he wanted to make with this song" regarding the representation of African Americans in Christmas music. On writing the song with Hathaway (who died in 1979), Nadine McKinnor said she felt "blessed to have written Donny a song that celebrates the possibilities, the expectations, and the anticipation of Christmas and the good fun and happy loving times", and that the creation of the song "was a God plan. God was in this plan. And Donny Hathaway was a genius."

"This Christmas" was released as a single in 1970. It initially saw little success, as it was listed just once on any of Billboard magazine's weekly published music charts in the 1970s, specifically Billboard's special Christmas Singles chart (on the week ending December 23, 1972, at position No. 11). But in recent years, the song has made it onto a number of Billboard's weekly music charts.

In addition to making its first appearance on the main Billboard Hot 100 songs chart in late December 2020 (peaking at No. 34 three years later), Hathaway's "This Christmas" has also appeared on these other Billboard music charts:

Global 200 (No. 52 peak position in early January 2024),

Global 200 Excl. US (No. 140 peak position in January 2024),

Holiday 100 (No. 25 peak position in early January 2014),

Holiday Digital Song Sales (No. 32 peak position in early January 2022),

Holiday Streaming Songs (No. 27 peak position in December 2020),

R&B Digital Song Sales (No. 5 peak position in late December 2023),

R&B Streaming Songs (No. 6 peak position in early January 2021),

R&B/Hip-Hop Digital Song Sales (No. 12 peak position in late December 2023),

R&B/Hip-Hop Streaming Songs (No. 6 peak position in early January 2021),

and Streaming Songs (No. 27 peak position in early January 2021).

In 1991, Atco Records released a revised edition of their 1968 compilation album Soul Christmas that included "This Christmas".

After the 1991 release of Atco Records' Soul Christmas, the song became particularly notable for the popularity of its numerous covers by other artists, particularly well-known pop, smooth jazz and R&B artists.

Prior to this re-release, artists who recorded cover versions included The Whispers, The Temptations, Gladys Knight & the Pips, as well as Patti LaBelle, who titled a Christmas albumafter the song.

A previously unheard recording of the song by Diana Ross from 1974 was released on Motown Records' compilation album Christmas in the City in 1993.

In 1996, Patti LaBelle performed the song at the lighting of the American National Christmas Tree. During the performance her backing singers failed to appear, yet a frustrated LaBelle carried on without her entourage before President Clinton appeared to light the tree.

Gloria Estefan recorded a version for her fourth studio album Christmas Through Your Eyes in 1993.

Christina Aguilera recorded a cover of the song for her third studio album My Kind of Christmas (2000). It was released as a promotional single in November 2023.

The song was later certified gold by IFPI Danmarkfor selling over 45,000 units.

In 2001, Destiny's Child released a cover of the song for their studio album, 8 Days of Christmas.

Elliott Yamin released his version as his debut single in December 2006, which reached No. 21 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.

A cover of the song by Chris Brown, recorded for the 2007 film of the same name, peaked at No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was certified Platinum by the RIAA.

Lady Antebellum covered the song for the 2012 Christmas album On This Winter's Night. In December 2012,

The Philadelphia Tribunemusic critic Nekesa Mumbi Moody praised Lady Antebellum's recording and the rest of the album. However, Ludovic Hunter-Tilney of the Financial Times panned the album and called the trio's cover recording a "slickly insincere 1980s soul."

CeeLo Green covered the song for Cee Lo's Magic Moment (2012). Also in December 2012, Alan Sculley of Asbury Park Press praised CeeLo Green's recording as "a good Stevie Wonder". One of The StarPhoenix music critics called CeeLo's takes on the song and "What Christmas Means to Me" not as good as original versions but "worth a listen" with "enough originality".

However, Melissa Ruggieri of The Atlanta Journal-Constitutioncriticised CeeLo's version as skippable and "surprisingly dull". Covers by Seal and by American band Train each went to No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

In December 2016, Mark Daniell of the Ottawa Sun praised versions by the following artists as "good": Lady Antebellum, Chris Brown, Macy Gray, and CeeLo Green.

Sabrina Carpenter performed a cover of this song with Tyla for her 2024 Netflix Christmas special, A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter.

#Christmas #holiday season #merry christmas #holidays #xmas #festive #christmas lights #christmas gift #christmas time #christmas ornament #christmas tree #Spotify

1 note · View note

kickmag · 2 months ago

Text

R.I.P. Cissy Houston

Cissy Houston, gospel singer and mother of Whitney Houston, passed away on Monday at age 91. Houston, who was born Emily Drinkard, started her music career in 1938 when she and her sister Anne and brothers Larry and Nicky formed The Drinkard Four gospel group. Their sister Marie joined the group and the name was changed to The Drinkard Singers. Houston's sister Lee managed the group and later became the mother of Dee Dee and Dionne Warwick. The group performed regularly around Newark, New Jersey, and after an appearance at the Newport Jazz Festival, they signed a deal with MCA Records and became the first gospel group to release an album on a major label. The group would experience some more changes in the lineup and become The Sweet Inspirations. They had a Top 40 hit in 1968 with "Sweet Inspiration" and became an in-demand backup group. Van Morrison used them on his iconic hit, "Brown Eyed Girl," and Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Dusty Springfield, George Benson, Wilson Pickett, Aretha Franklin, and Carmen McCrae were some of the artists that used The Sweet Inspirations in their recordings.

Houston started recording solo records in 1963 with the single "This Is My Vow." Her solo album, Presenting Cissy Houston, was released in 1970. Houston recorded four solo albums in the '70s and had a disco hit with "Think It Over." She was the first to record "Midnight Train To Georgia" in 1972, one year before Gladys Knight & The Pips made it a hit. Houston was in demand as a session singer and recorded with Paul Simon, Better Midler, Burt Bacharach, and Linda Rondstadt. She performed live with her band around New York City and Whitney would frequently join her on stage. In the 90s, she won Grammy awards for her gospel albums, Face To Face and He Leadeth Me. She recorded the duet "I Know Him So Well" with Whitney in 1987 and it appeared on Whitney's second album. In 2006, she recorded "Family First" with Dionne Warwick and Whitney for the Daddy's Little Girls soundtrack. BET did a tribute to Whitney Houston in 2012 after passing and Cissy performed "Bridge Over Troubled Water." The average pop culture historian has relegated Cissy Houston to being the mother of Whitney but she was a vocalist in her own right that made music listeners understand that a backup singer was just as important as the lead vocalist. Her work on Aretha Franklin's "Ain't No Way" elevated the song into an otherworldly listening experience and this is why Franklin made sure to have Houston on stage with her during their last television appearance together in 2014 on The Late Show with David Letterman. Houston paved the way for her daughter Whitney and numerous singers, especially those who showed their star power in a supporting role.

youtube

#cissy houston #whitney houston #emily drinkard #the drinkard singers #the sweet inspirations #Youtube

0 notes

miamindmusic · 3 months ago

Text

Darrell Kelley Releases New Soulful Single "Neither One Of Us" On October 28, 2024

Viral Records is proud to announce the release of Darrell Kelley’s highly anticipated new single, "Neither One of Us," on October 28, 2024. This emotional rendition of the timeless ballad, originally performed by Gladys Knight & the Pips, pays homage to the 1973 classic while bringing Kelley’s distinctive voice and heartfelt delivery to a new generation of listeners.

"Neither One of Us" was a chart-topping hit written by Jim Weatherly and cemented its place in music history as one of the defining breakup songs of the 1970s. Darrell Kelley, known for his ability to blend passion, activism, and soulful expression, breathes new life into the track while preserving the essence that made the original so powerful.

Darrell Kelley embodies the true essence of a multifaceted artist. As a performer, singer, songwriter, social activist, spiritual leader, author, and entrepreneur, Kelley’s work transcends entertainment—his music serves as a vessel for his advocacy and message of justice, understanding, acceptance, and unity.

With "Neither One of Us," Kelley continues his tradition of combining artistry with purpose, ensuring his music resonates deeply with those who long for authenticity and soul in today’s music landscape.

Available on all major streaming platforms, "Neither One of Us" marks a milestone in Darrell Kelley’s evolving career and promises to leave a lasting impression on the world of R&B and beyond.

For more information, interview requests, or media inquiries, please contact:

Media Contact: Stevie B Mia Mind Music Phone: 201-656-5458 Email: [email protected]

#music #new release #r&b #Soulful ballad

0 notes

ivankahasbeentreatedsounfairly · 3 months ago

Text

Kris Kristofferson, the singer and songwriter whose literary yet plain-spoken compositions like “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” infused country music with rarely heard candor and depth, and who later had a successful second career in movies, died at his home in Maui, Hawaii on Saturday. He was 88.

His death was announced by Ebie McFarland, a spokeswoman, who did not give a cause.

Hundreds of artists have recorded Mr. Kristofferson’s songs, from Al Green and the Grateful Dead to Michael Bublé and Gladys Knight and the Pips.

Mr. Kristofferson’s breakthrough as a songwriter came with “For the Good Times,” a bittersweet ballad that topped the country chart and reached the pop Top 40 for Ray Price in 1970. His “Sunday Morning Coming Down” became a No. 1 country hit for his friend and mentor Johnny Cash later that year.

Mr. Cash memorably intoned the song’s indelible opening couplet:

Well, I woke up Sunday morning

With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt

And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad

So I had one more for dessert.

Expressing more than just the malaise of someone suffering from a hangover, “Sunday Morning Coming Down” gives voice to feelings of spiritual abandonment that border on the absolute. “Nothing short of dying” is the way the song’s chorus describes the desolation its protagonist is experiencing.

Steeped in a neo-romantic sensibility that owed as much to John Keats as to the Beat Generation and Bob Dylan, Mr. Kristofferson’s work explored themes of freedom and commitment, alienation and desire, darkness and light.

“Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose/Nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free,” he wrote in “Me and Bobby McGee.” Janis Joplin, with whom Mr. Kristofferson was briefly involved romantically, had a posthumous No. 1 single with her plaintive recording of the song in 1971.

Later that year “Help Me Make It Through the Night” became a No. 1 country and Top 10 pop hit in a heart-stopping performance by Sammi Smith. The composition won Mr. Kristofferson a Grammy Award for Country Song of the Year in 1972.

It was a heady time to be a songwriter in Nashville, where Mr. Kristofferson fell in with a gifted circle of like-minded — and similarly bacchanalian — tunesmiths who were as driven to succeed as he was, Roger Miller and Willie Nelson among them.

“We took it seriously enough to think that our work was important, to think that what we were creating would mean something in the big picture,” Mr. Kristofferson said in an interview with the magazine No Depression in 2006.

“Looking back on it, I feel like it was kind of our Paris in the ’20s,” he went on, alluding to American expatriate writers like Ernest Hemingway and Gertrude Stein who lived there at the time. “Real creative and real exciting — and intense.”

Mr. Kristofferson’s own raspy, at times pitch-indifferent vocals never quite gained traction with commercial radio. One notable exception was the gospel-suffused “Why Me,” a No. 1 country and Top 40 pop hit released on the Monument label in 1973. (Another gospel song of his, “One Day at a Time,” written with Marijohn Wilkin, was a No. 1 country single for the singer Christy Lane in 1980.)

Mr. Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge, who were married for much of the ’70s, won Grammy Awards for Best Country Vocal Performance by a duo or group with “From the Bottle to the Bottom” (1973) and “Lover Please” (1975). They also appeared in movies together, including Sam Peckinpah’s gritty 1973 western, “Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid,” in which Mr. Kristofferson played the outlaw Billy the Kid. Peckinpah cast Mr. Kristofferson in his film after seeing him perform at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, and after he saw him in “Cisco Pike” (1972), his big-screen debut.”

Martin Scorsese then cast Mr. Kristofferson, whose rugged good looks lent themselves to the big screen, as the laconic male lead, alongside Ellen Burstyn, in the critically acclaimed 1974 drama “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore.” He later starred opposite Barbra Streisand in Frank Pierson’s remake of “A Star Is Born,” a performance for which he won a Golden Globe Award in 1977.

Over four decades Mr. Kristofferson acted in more than 50 movies, among them the 1980 box-office failure “Heaven’s Gate” and John Sayles’s Oscar-nominated 1996 neo-western “Lone Star.” Singer-songwriters may not be the likeliest of movie stars, but Mr. Kristofferson consistently revealed a magnetism and command onscreen that made him an exception to the rule. In 2006 he was inducted into the Texas Film Hall of Fame, along with Matthew McConaughey, Cybill Shepard and JoBeth Williams.

Mr. Kristofferson’s last major hit as a recording artist was “The Highwayman,” a No. 1 country single in 1985 by the Highwaymen, an outlaw-country supergroup that also included his longtime friends Waylon Jennings, Mr. Nelson and Mr. Cash.

Mr. Cash and his wife, June Carter Cash, had played a pivotal role in Mr. Kristofferson’s budding career when they invited him to appear with them at the Newport Folk Festival in 1969.

Mr. Kristofferson was still a scuffling songwriter at the time, having worked as a janitor at Columbia Studios in Nashville, where he later recalled emptying ashtrays and wastepaper baskets during the 1966 sessions for Mr. Dylan’s “Blonde on Blonde.” Immobilized by stage fright at Newport that night, Mr. Kristofferson might have squandered his opportunity had it not been for the encouragement of Ms. Carter Cash, who, as her husband recalled in interviews, all but dragged him onstage with them.

The evening proved propitious, exposing Mr. Kristofferson to a national audience after he received a highly favorable mention in The New York Times the next day.

“If there was one thing that got my performing career started, that was it right there,” Mr. Kristofferson said, reflecting on the experience as quoted in the 2013 book “Outlaw: Waylon, Willie, Kris, and the Renegades of Nashville,” by Michael Streissguth.

Kristoffer Kristofferson was born on June 22, 1936, in Brownsville, Tex., the eldest of three children of Mary Ann (Ashbrook) and Lars Henry Kristofferson. His father, a major general in the Air Force, strongly urged him to pursue a military career.

The family later moved west, and in 1954 Mr. Kristofferson graduated from San Mateo High School in Northern California, where he distinguished himself in both academics and athletics. He was subsequently featured as a promising boxer in Sports Illustrated’s “Faces in the Crowd” series in 1958.

Mr. Kristofferson graduated with honors with a degree in literature from Pomona College in Claremont, Calif., in 1958. He also had prizewinning entries in a collegiate short-story contest sponsored by The Atlantic magazine before being awarded a Rhodes scholarship to study English literature at Oxford.

Under the pseudonym Kris Carson, he made a fruitless bid to become a pop star while there, working with Tony Hatch, the British impresario known for his success with the singer Petula Clark.

Mr. Kristofferson graduated from Merton College, Oxford, in 1960 and received a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army. In 1961 he married Frances Beer and was stationed in Germany, where he served as a helicopter pilot.

He attained the rank of captain in 1965 and received an appointment to teach English at West Point. He ultimately declined the position, trading the comforts it might have afforded for the penury of life as a would-be songwriter in Nashville.

If his wife was crestfallen by the move, his parents were scandalized. For a while they disowned him for throwing away everything he had worked so hard to achieve.

“Not many cats I knew bailed out like I did,” Mr. Kristofferson said, talking about this tumultuous period for a 1970 feature in The Times Magazine. “When I made the break I didn’t realize how much I was shocking the folks, because I always thought they knew I was going to be a writer. But I think they thought a writer was a guy in tweeds with a pipe. And I quit and didn’t hear from ’em for a while.

“I wouldn’t want to go through it again,” he continued, “but it’s part of what I am.”

Success in Nashville initially eluded Mr. Kristofferson, and not without reason. According to Ms. Wilkin, the first publisher to sign him to a songwriting deal, he had a few things to learn — and unlearn — before he arrived at the distinctive mix of vernacular and sophisticated idioms that became his stock in trade.

“He had been a poet and an English teacher, so his songs were too long and too perfect,” Ms. Wilkin said in a 2003 interview with Nashville Scene. “His grammar was too perfect. He had to learn the way people talk.”

Mr. Kristofferson’s transformation as a songwriter involved more than merely sprinkling colloquialisms like “ain’t” and “nothin’” in among his lyrics. He also cultivated a keen melodic sensibility, a languid expressiveness that bore little resemblance to the straightforward Hank Williams-derived shuffles he was turning out when he first arrived in Nashville.

“I had to get better,” Mr. Kristofferson said in an interview with Nashville Scene, reflecting on the lean years before he broke through as a songwriter. “I was spending every second I could hanging out and writing and bouncing off the heads of other writers.”

He also changed publishers, leaving Ms. Wilkin’s Buckhorn Music for Combine Music, owned by the producer Fred Foster, who also had the freewheeling likes of Shel Silverstein and Mickey Newbury under contract.

In 1970 Mr. Foster issued “Kristofferson,” Mr. Kristofferson’s debut as a recording artist, on his independent label Monument. The album contained versions of several songs that had been hits for other artists, including “Me and Bobby McGee,” for which Mr. Foster was credited as a co-writer. (That song was originally recorded by Roger Miller, who had a Top 20 country hit with it in 1969.)

Mr. Kristofferson released other albums, to mixed reviews, in the ’70s; by decade’s end his career in movies had begun to eclipse his reputation as a singer-songwriter.

The ’80s and ’90s saw his music take an activist turn, with lyrics championing social justice and human rights. “What About Me,” a song from his 1986 album, “Repossessed,” spoke out against right-wing military aggression in Central America.

Bypass surgery in 1999 slowed Mr. Kristofferson down, as did an extended bout with Lyme disease in the decade that followed, but he remained active into his 80s.

Mr. Kristofferson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004. By that time he had already been elected to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (in 1977) and the National Academy of Popular Music’s Songwriters Hall of Fame (in 1985). He also received a lifetime achievement honor at the 2014 Grammy Awards.

Mr. Kristofferson is survived by Lisa (Meyers) Kristofferson, his wife of over 40 years, their sons, Jesse, Jody, Johnny and Blake, and a daughter, Kelly Marie; a son, Kris, and daughter, Tracy, from his marriage to Ms. Beer; and a daughter, Casey, from his marriage to Ms. Coolidge; and seven grandchildren.

A man of prodigious gifts and appetites, Mr. Kristofferson struggled early on with what path to pursue among the many that were open to him. In the song “The Pilgrim, Chapter 33,” he seemed to acknowledge as much, depicting a conflicted figure, much like himself, who took “every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.”

Such self-deprecation notwithstanding, Mr. Kristofferson believed that songwriting — certainly a “wrong direction” in the eyes of his family, at least at first — was the means through which he discovered his vocation in life, and by which he achieved celebrity and artistic acclaim.

“I wouldn’t be doing any of it if it weren’t for writing,” he said, looking back on his career, in a 2006 interview with the online magazine Country Standard Time.

“I never would have gotten to make records if I didn’t write. I wouldn’t have gotten to tour without it. And I never would’ve been asked to act in a movie if I hadn’t been known as a writer.”

“Writer” was the occupation listed on Mr. Kristofferson’s passport.

New York Times

By Bill Friskics-Warren

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/29/obituaries/kris-kristofferson-country-singer-songwriter-and-actor-dies-at-88.html

0 notes