In Memoriam : Charley Pride, country music pioneer, dies at 86

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Charley Pride, country music’s first Black star whose rich baritone helped him sell millions of records, has died. He was 86.

Death details for Charley Pride

Pride died Saturday in Dallas due to complications from COVID-19, according to Jeremy Westby of the public relations firm 2911 Media.

Country music pioneer

Born in Mississippi to share croppers, Pride is a country music pioneer becoming the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

He released a plethora of albums and sold more than 25 million records during a career that began in the mid-1960s. Hits besides “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” in 1971 included “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone,” “Burgers and Fries,” “Mountain of Love,” and “Someone Loves You Honey.”

Awards Charley Pride received and accolades

Pride had three Grammy Awards, more than 30 No. 1 hits between 1969 and 1984, won the Country Music Association’s Top Male Vocalist and Entertainer of the Year awards in 1972 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000.

Until the early 1990s, when Cleve Francis came along, Pride was the only Black country singer signed to a major label.

“They used to ask me how it feels to be the ‘first colored country singer,’” he told The Dallas Morning News in 1992. “Then it was ‘first Negro country singer;’ then ‘first black country singer.’ Now I’m the ‘first African American country singer.’ That’s about the only thing that’s changed. This country is so race-conscious, so ate-up with colors and pigments. I call it ‘skin hangups’ — it’s a disease.”

In 2008 while accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award as part of the Mississippi Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts, Pride said he never focused on race.

“My older sister one time said, ‘Why are you singing THEIR music?’” Pride said. “But we all understand what the y’all-and-us-syndrome has been. See, I never as an individual accepted that, and I truly believe that’s why I am where I am today.”

Earlier this year, Pride was honored with the Country Music Association’s Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award and performed on stage.

Before music

Before launching his singing career, Charley Pride was a pitcher and outfielder in the Negro American League with the Memphis Red Sox and in the Pioneer League in Montana. He also served time in the Army.