Charlie Pride, who sold millions of records and was the first black artist to become a member of the country music hall of fame, among many other honors, has died at the age of 86. A statement posted on the singer's website said Pride died in Dallas, Texas, on Saturday from complications due to COVID-19.
The son of sharecropper from Mississippi, Pride became one of the first black men to become a major star in a genre where most of the biggest hitmakers are white. Rising to prominence in the 1960s and '70s, pride recorded dozens of songs that topped the country music charts, including" kiss good morning angel "and" is anyone going to San Anthony."
Pride was at least 30 no. 1 hits on the country music charts, and won almost every major award in available to a country musician. In total, Pride won three Grammy Awards, including" Best Male Country Vocal Performance " in 1972 as well as several awards from the country music Association, which named him Artist of the year in 1971. His final performance was on November 11 at the CMA Awards, where he performed "Kiss and Angel Good Mornin" With Jimmy Allen.
Besides competitive awards, pride has received almost every other Honor awarded to someone of his stature in the genre, including induction into the country music hall of Fame, in 2000, and the Grand Ole Opry — the mecca of Country Music where Pride first performed in 1967 — in 1993.
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Pride's achievements were not limited only to the Nashville Scene. Came accolades from places as far away as Hollywood, including a star on the Walk of Fame in 1999 and accomplished over the life of the Grammy Awards in 2017. He was also reportedly the inspiration for the character of Tommy Brown-a fictional Black Country music performer played by actor Timothy Brown-in Robert Altman's sprawling 1975 film Nashville.
Before he received a lifetime achievement Grammy, he told NPR that he often resisted naming pioneer.
"I've never seen anything but Charlie's strong American pride,"he says. "When I got to that , they used different descriptions. They'll say, " Charlie, how did it feel to be the Jackie Robinson of Country Music?"Or" how did it feel to be the first colorful country singer? Said Pride .
"This doesn't bother me, other than what I have to explain to you-how do you maneuver around all those obstacles to get to where I am today. I have a grandson and a daughter and they'll also ask them if we don't get out of this crutch that we've all been in all these years trying to break free of all this, see? 'Y'all, 'them' and ' US.'"
He was born on March 18, 1934 in sled, miss. Pride grew even less than 300 miles from Nashville, but the road to country music stardom was filled with diversions. He served in the US Army and pursued a baseball career in the segregated Negro American League and minor leagues, worked at a smelting plant in Montana, where he began raising a family.
Pride began singing while still playing baseball, but did not move to Nashville immediately. Signed with RCA in 1965 and in 1967 released "just between you and me", which became the first country music no top 10. From there I haven't looked back, racking up more than 60 all together over a decade and a half the next.
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