Country Music

Classic Country Music Hits

Country Music

In March 1977, Rita Coolidge was standing at the sink in a small ranch house above Malibu when her own voice came through the kitchen radio, just as the marriage she had once hoped would last forever was beginning to come apart. Only two months earlier, Rita had miscarried the second child she and Kris Kristofferson had hoped might help pull them back together. Their relationship had already been strained by years of touring, drinking, infidelity and two careers moving at different speeds, and Rita later wrote that she had reached a point where she was crying almost every day. Then “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher” began climbing the charts. The timing was almost cruel in its contrast. Rita had spent years singing beside some of the biggest names in rock and country, including Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills and Kris himself, but her solo career had never fully broken through. Now, while her private life was collapsing, the record she had made with Booker T. Jones’s arrangement was finally giving her the commercial success she had wanted for years. The song eventually reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, the biggest single of Coolidge’s career. Her album *Anytime…Anywhere* also became her commercial breakthrough, while she and Kristofferson continued appearing publicly as one of music’s most famous couples even as their marriage was moving toward divorce. Rita later said she never wanted her memoir to turn Kris into a villain, and decades after the divorce she still described the bond between them as something that had never completely disappeared. Their marriage had produced three duet albums, two Grammy-winning performances and a daughter, Casey, but the clearest symbol of Rita’s own turning point came from that kitchen radio in 1977. At the exact moment one life was breaking apart, another was finally beginning to belong entirely to her.

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RITA COOLIDGE HEARD HER BIGGEST HIT ON THE RADIO WHILE HER MARRIAGE WAS FALLING APART

In March 1977, Rita Coolidge was standing at the sink in a small ranch house above Malibu when her own voice came through the kitchen radio.

The song was “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher.”

It should have been one of the happiest moments of her career.

Instead, Rita was listening to her breakthrough arrive while her marriage to Kris Kristofferson was beginning to come apart.

Two Months Earlier, She Had Lost a Pregnancy

Rita and Kris had already spent years trying to balance two careers, constant touring and a relationship increasingly strained by drinking and infidelity.

Then came another blow.

Only two months before that kitchen-radio moment, Rita miscarried the second child the couple had hoped might help bring them closer again.

She later remembered reaching a point where she was crying almost every day.

Home no longer felt secure.

The marriage that had once seemed permanent was slipping away.

Then Her Voice Came Through the Radio

Coolidge had spent years beside famous musicians.

She had sung with Joe Cocker, Eric Clapton, Stephen Stills and Kris himself.

She was respected throughout the industry, but her own records had never produced the commercial breakthrough she wanted.

Then producer and arranger Booker T. Jones helped reshape “Higher and Higher” around her voice.

The record began climbing.

And suddenly Rita was hearing herself on the radio at exactly the moment when almost everything else in her life felt unstable.

Her Biggest Hit Arrived During Her Hardest Period

“(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher and Higher” eventually reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

It became the biggest single of Coolidge’s career.

The album Anytime…Anywhere also became her commercial breakthrough.

From the outside, the timing looked almost perfect.

Rita Coolidge was finally becoming a major solo star.

Privately, she and Kristofferson were moving toward divorce.

They Were Still Famous as a Couple

To the public, Rita and Kris remained one of music’s most recognizable partnerships.

They had recorded three duet albums together.

They had won Grammys.

They had a daughter, Casey.

But public success could no longer repair what had been damaged privately.

Years later, Rita resisted turning Kris into a simple villain in her own story.

Even after the marriage ended, she described the connection between them as something that never entirely disappeared.

The Song Became Her Own Turning Point

That is what makes the kitchen scene matter.

The record was not merely another hit arriving at the right time.

It marked the moment when Rita Coolidge’s career began separating itself from the marriage that had defined so much of her public identity.

Her voice was suddenly enough on its own.

What That Kitchen Radio Really Leaves Behind

In one room, Rita Coolidge was grieving a pregnancy, losing a marriage and trying to understand what came next.

From a small radio beside her, another version of her life was beginning.

The song climbed.

The album broke through.

And the woman who had spent years singing beside other people was finally becoming unmistakably herself.

One life was breaking apart.

Another had just started playing through the speakers.

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