One of my heroes just passed away, having lived a good life, at the age of 88.  Singer, songwriter, movie star, Highwayman, outlaw helicopter pilot, Rhodes Scholar, poet, husband, father, and all round good guy – Kris Kristofferson died in his sleep, surrounded by his loving family in Hawaii last month.

His songs were a part of my life for six decades.  They helped me make it through the night in many lonely hotel rooms.  I love all his albums and songs, but perhaps the best way to understand the man is by listening to the expanded edition of 1999’s The Austin Sessions.

I saw him live in the UK, in the US, and in Canada where I had the thrill of bumping into him after a hockey game at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1988.  Neither of us were drinking at the time so we shared a couple of Pepsis, as we walked out of the stadium and went our separate ways.

30 years later in 2008 I watched him play a live concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London.  He was fighting a cold but still delivered an intimate performance in this most iconic of UK venues.  Unbelievably, the next time I was at the Albert Hall I was on stage, in front of 2,000 people speaking to the Institute of Directors’ annual event.  As I walked onto the stage, I was overcome by the magnitude of the event and the grand location and without thinking I started my speech by saying “The last time I was here, I was down where you are in the audience, watching one of my heroes Kris Kristofferson perform.  Now I’m standing here on the same stage where this great man stood.”  I was momentarily overcome by just how much that meant to me at that particular moment.  And then I ad-libbed into a story about the Lovemark that was Kris Kristofferson and the Lovemark that was the Royal Albert Hall and off we went into the speech I had prepared before the spirit of Kristofferson engulfed me (and even managed to squeeze in a couple of references to the Silver-Tongued Devil, and Nobody Wins along the way.

A few years later, Kris entered my life obliquely one more time.  Thanks to Trudy – and here is her description of what happened.

Kris Kristofferson was a great songwriter / poet / musician that Kevin loved very much.  I had an idea for one of his past birthdays, to reach out to Kris and ask him to help me with a gift for Kevin.  Kris’ wife wrote me back and we started a dialogue about Kevin’s birthday.  They both took my request very seriously and wanted to know what I had in mind as a gift.  His wife explained that they are in Hawaii and getting to the music studio was a long way from where they were.  (I had given her an example of a gift that Robert Earl Keen gave Kevin which was a personal recording of REK singing a verse from one of his songs with the ending of “Happy Birthday, Kevin”.) I told her that Kevin would be happy with anything that Kris would like to send.  Well, besides a lovely birthday card from Kris, he sent concert memorabilia – all signed by Kris.  What a great birthday gift from a great artist.

So here’s to you Kris.  Please don’t tell me how the story ends.