Charley Pride
 |
Charley Pride on the cover of one of his several greatest hits albums, from 2003 |
Charley Frank Pride (born
March 18,
1939 in
Sledge, Mississippi) is a former
Negro League baseball player who became one of the very few
African Americans to have a successful career in modern
country music.
Pride was one of eleven children born to desperately poor
sharecroppers. His father named him Charl Frank Pride, but due to a typing error on his birth certificate, he was legally born as Charley Frank Pride. He grew up dreaming of being a baseball player and met his future wife, Rozene, while playing for the
Memphis Red Sox in
Memphis, Tennessee (which was a Negro-American League team). Pride played
guitar and sang while touring as a baseball player.In 1958 when he was in Memphis, Charley Pride visited
Sun Studio and recorded some songs. One song has survived on tape, released in England on an lp-box. The song is a slow stroll in walking tempo called "Walkin (the stroll)"
Early music success
When it became clear that he would not become a
Major League Baseball player, he turned to music as a full time career. He was introduced to producer
Jack Clement, who gave him two songs to record, "Snakes Crawl at Night" and "Atlantic Coastal Line." Clement gave Pride's two-song demo to the head of
RCA Victor Records in
Nashville,
Chet Atkins, who signed him to the label. Atkins and Clement considered not disclosing that he was black until the records were established, but Atkins decided that it was unfair to all concerned. Pride's first single was broadcast in January
1966. Within a short period of time, both songs became hits.
Pride has garnered more than 36 number one country
singles and sold over 70 million
records (singles, albums, compilation inclusions). His fame is world-wide, during the 1980's his
Golden Greats album reached Number 1 on the
UK Country music charts.
"Kiss An Angel Good Morning" was a million-selling crossover single and helped Pride land
Country Music Association Awards as Entertainer of the Year in
1971 and Top Male Vocalist in 1971 and
1972.
Other Pride standards include "Is Anybody Goin' To San Antone?", "I'm So Afraid of Losing You Again", "Mississippi Cotton Picking Delta Town", "Someone Loves You Honey", "When I Stop Leaving I'll Be Gone", "Burgers and Fries", and "You're So Good When You're Bad". Like many other country performers, he has paid tribute to
Hank Williams with performances of Williams' classics "Kaw-Liga" and "Honky Tonk Blues", both of which are on the album
There's a Little Bit of Hank in Me.
In
1973 Pride sang
River Song from the
Sherman Brothers Musical film
Tom Sawyer.
*
September 6,
1969: Pride appears on national television on the Johnny Cash Show, to perform a medley of Hank William Sr. songs with Johnny Cash.
*
May 1,
1993: Pride accepted an invitation to join the
Grand Ole Opry, in the process becoming the first African-American honoree in its more than 70-year history.
*
1994: Pride released his
autobiography,
Pride: The Charley Pride Story (published by William Morrow).
* June 1994: Pride was honored by the
Academy of Country Music with its prestigious Pioneer Award.
* January
1996: Pride was honored with a Trumpet Award by
Turner Broadcasting, marking outstanding African-American Achievement. His "Roll On Mississippi" was considered as the official song of his home state, a stretch of Mississippi highway was named for him, and he headlined a special
Christmas performance for President and Mrs.
Clinton at the
White House.
* July
1999: Pride received his own star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame.
*
October 4,
2000, Charley was inducted into the
Country Music Hall of Fame. His name was announced by
Brenda Lee.
*
2003: Pride's album
Comfort of Her Wings is released on
Music City Records.
*
March 18,
1974 – At
Pompano Beach training camp, Pride played for the
Texas Rangers against
pitcher Jim Palmer and the
Baltimore Orioles. Pride
grounded out and
singled in two
at-bats, as the Orioles won, 14â€"2.
* Pride returned to his hometown of Sledge and purchased the cotton farm where he had been born.
*
Official Website *
at the Country Music Hall of Fame
