Charley Pride - Background, Music career, Chronology, Trivia

Country music singer, born in Sledge, Mississippi, USA. Born into a family of poor cotton-pickers, he was drawn to country music as a youth, but he first tried a career in baseball. He made it to the minors in Helena, MT (1960) but failed in a tryout with the California Angels. He had done some singing at a country music bar in Helena, so he returned there, and his singing in local clubs gained him an audition in Nashville, and by 1964 he was under contract with RCA. His first hit was ‘Snakes Crawl by Night’ (1965), followed by ‘Just Between You and Me’ (1966) and many others including ‘Did You Think to Pray’ (1971). The first African-American to break into country music, he was introduced to the ‘Grand Ole Opry’ in 1967 and went on to win many music awards. He toured and appeared on television in the 1970s and 1980s.

Charley Frank Pride (born March 18, 1938 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.

Background

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. Pride played guitar and sang while touring as a baseball player. In 1958 in Memphis, Pride visited Sun Studios and recorded some songs. 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.

Music career

Pride has garnered more than 36 number one country singles and sold over 70 million records (singles, albums, compilation inclusions).

"Kiss An Angel Good Morning" was a million-selling crossover single and helped Pride land Country Music Association Awards as Entertainer of the Year (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."

In 1973 Pride sang "River Song" from the Sherman Brothers' Musical film Tom Sawyer.

Chronology

September 6, 1969: Pride appears on national television on The Johnny Cash Show to perform a medley of Hank Williams 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 Opry regular in the show's 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. October 4, 2000, Pride was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. 2003: Pride's album Comfort of Her Wings was released on Music City Records.

Trivia

March 18, 1974 – At Pompano Beach training camp, Pride played for the Texas Rangers against pitcher Jim Palmer and the Baltimore Orioles.