Charley Pride
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| Charley Pride | ||
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 Charley Pride's All Time Greatest Hits album
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Charley Frank Pride | |
| Also known as | The Pride of Country | |
| Born | March 18, 1938 (age 68) | |
| Origin | Sledge, Mississippi, USA | |
| Genre(s) | Country Music | |
| Occupation(s) | Country music artist Baseball player |
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| Instrument(s) | Acoustic guitar | |
| Years active | 1966 – Present | |
| Label(s) | RCA Records (1966 – 1986) Music City Records (2001 – Present) |
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| Website | www.charleypride.com | |
| Members | ||
| Country Music Hall of Fame Grand Ole Opry |
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| Notable instrument(s) | ||
| Acoustic guitar | ||
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. He is amongst the most successful African American Country singers of all time. During his career that spans over 40 years, he has had 36 number-one hits.
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[edit] Early Life & Career As a Baseball Player
Charley Pride is best known for his 1971 Country and Pop hit "Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'" and many other number-one hits. Some people think that Pride was the first African American country singer, however, that is not true. A harmonica wizard named DeFord Bailey was a star of the Grand Ole Opry that went back as far as the 1920s. He is amazingly one of the most successful Country music artists after he scored 36 number-one hit singles on the Country charts. He was also not too bad of a baseball player either, which was one of his life-long dreams before turning to music instead.
Charley was born in 1938 in Mississippi. 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[1] . As a teenager, he began to play the guitar. One of his life-long dreams was to become a baseball player. He eventually joined the Negro American League and played major league baseball for the Memphis Red Sox.
After two years of playing baseball, he joined the U.S. Army. He served in the Army for two years. Upon his discharge, he suffered an injury to his throwing arm used for baseball. Knowing he wouldn't make it to the Major Leagues even if he tried, he began to work construction out in Helena, Montana. However, out there he still played minor league baseball. In 1961, he tried out for the California Angels and the New York Mets, but they all rejected him for their teams.
[edit] Rise to Music Fame
In 1958 in Memphis, Pride visited Sun Studios and recorded some songs. One song has survived on tape, released in England as part of an Lp-box. The song is a slow stroll in walking tempo called "Walkin (the Stroll)"
After knowing, he would not be able to make a career in Baseball, he decided to turn his attention to music, specifically Country music. When he had lived in Montana, he had heard much encouragement to join the music business from Country music singers like Red Sovine and Red Foley. Soon he was working towards this career. After struggling to get a contract with a record company, he finally caught the eye of producer Chet Atkins. Atkins was the longtime producer of RCA Records. He made stars out of famous Country singers like Skeeter Davis for example, who became famous during the 1960s. Soon enough, Pride was signed to RCA Records in 1966.
In 1967, he released his first single from RCA Records called "Snakes Crawl in the Night". The song was about a man who shoots his wife because she was cheating on him with another man. When the song was promoted to radio stations, the label called Pride "Country Charley Pride". They purposely failed to send a photograph of Pride because they wanted DJs to think that he was white instead of black. It's important to remember that during this time in Country music, blacks were considered "unworthy" of singing Country music. Soon after its release, Pride released another single called "Before I Met You". This song, like his first release, really did not gain a lot of success like his later hits did.
In 1966 came the relaese of his third single called "Just Between You and Me". This song was what finally brought Pride to success on the Country charts. the song reached #9 and from there on, he never looked back.
[edit] Height of His Career
The success "Just Between You and Me" made was enormous. In fact he won a Grammy Award for the song the next year. However, success didn't come as easily as it seemed to many people. Pride was still considered by many in the music business as a "Black Performer" and like other African Americans at the time, didn't get the respect and equal opportunities White people did at the time.
In 1967, he became the first Black performer to perform at the Grand Ole Opry since DeFord Bailey did in 1925. Between 1969 and 1971, he had six number-one hits. These hits were, "All I Have to Offer You Is Me", "I'm So Afraid of Losing You Again", "I Can't Believe That You've Stopped Lovin' Me" and "I'd Rather Love You". All of these singles reached the lower region of the Pop charts, showing the Country/Pop crossover sound that was reaching Country music in the late 60s and early 70s. His next #1 came in 1971 called "Kiss An Angel Good Morning", which 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. The song is probably one of his best known songs and also one of signature tunes. The song was also his first Pop hit, reaching #21 on the Pop charts and into the Top Ten of the Adult Contemporary charts.
During the rest of the 70s and into the 80s, Charley Pride continued to rank up #1 hits and other successful hits. 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 top-sellers of Williams' classics "Kaw-Liga" "Honky Tonk Blues" and "You Win Again," all of which are on the album There's a Little Bit of Hank in Me.
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 1980s, his "Golden Greats" album reached Number 1 on the UK Country music charts.
In 1973 Pride sang "River Song" from the Sherman Brothers' Musical film Tom Sawyer.
He stayed with RCA Records until 1986, after growing angry over the fact that the record company began to promote newer artists and not older artists that had been with the record company, like Pride.
[edit] 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. Pride's medley with the late Johnny Cash can be seen here.
- 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.
- 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 Prsident and Mrs. Bill Clinton at the White House.
- July 1999 – Pride received his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
- October 4, 2000 – Pride was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. His name was announced by Brenda Lee.
- May 20, 2003 – Pride's album Comfort of Her Wings was released on Music City Records.
- November 7, 2006 – Pride's album Pride & Joy: A Gospel Music Collection was released on Music City Records.
[edit] Famous Quote
- "I don't have no skin hang-ups. I'm no color. I'm just Charley Pride, the man."
[edit] Trivia
- 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, 14–2.
- Pride returned to his hometown of Sledge and purchased the cotton farm where he had been born.
[edit] Selected Hit Singles
| Year | Single | U.S. Country | US Hot 100 | U.S. AC | Album |
| 1967 | "Does My Ring Hurt You Finger?" | #4 | - | - | The Country Way |
| 1967 | "Just Between You and Me" | #9 | - | - | The Country Way |
| 1968 | "The Day the World Stood Still" | #4 | - | - | The Country Way |
| 1968 | "The Easy Part's Over" | #2 | - | - | Songs of Pride..Charley That Is |
| 1969 | "I'm So Afraid of Losing You Again" | #1 | #74 | - | Just Plain Charley |
| 1969 | "All I Have to Offer You Is Me" | #1 | #91 | - | Best of Charley Pride |
| 1970 | "I Can't Believed You Stopped Lovin' Me" | #1 | #71 | - | From Me to You |
| 1970 | "Is There Anybody Goin' to San Antone?" | #1 | - | - | Charley Pride's 10th Album |
| 1970 | "Wonder I Could Live There Anymore" | #1 | #87 | - | From Me to You |
| 1971 | "Do You Think I Pray?" | #70 | - | - | Do You Think I Pray?" |
| 1971 | "I'd Rather Love You" | #1 | #79 | - | I'm Just Me |
| 1971 | "I'm Just Me" | #1 | #94 | - | I'm Just Me |
| 1971 | "Kiss An Angel Good Mornin'" | #1 | #21 | #7 | Charley pride Sings Heart Songs |
| 1971 | "Let Me Live" | #21 | - | - | Do You Think I Pray?" |
| 1972 | "All His Children" | #2 | #92 | - | Sometimes a Great Nation |
| 1972 | "It's Gonna Take a Little Bit Longer" | #1 | - | - | A Sunshine Day With Charley Pride |
| 1972 | "She's Too Good to Be True" | #1 | - | - | Songs of Love by Charley Pride |
| 1973 | "Amazing Love" | #1 | - | - | Amazing Love |
| 1973 | "Don't Fight the Feelings of Love" | #1 | - | - | Sweet Country |
| 1973 | "A Shoulder to Cry On" | #1 | - | - | Sweet Country |
| 1975 | "Mississippi Cotton Picking Delta Town" | #3 | #70 | - | Pride of America |
| 1975 | "Hope You're Feeling Like I'm Feelin' You" | #1 | - | - | Charley |
| 1975 | "Then Who Am I?" | #1 | - | - | Pride of America |
| 1976 | "My Eyes Can Only See As far As You" | #1 | - | - | The Happiness of Having You |
| 1976 | "A Whole Lotta Things to Sing About" | #2 | - | - | The Happiness of Having You |
| 1976 | "The Happiness of Having You" | #3 | - | - | The Happiness of Having You |
| 1977 | "I'll Be Leavin' Alone" | #1 | - | - | She's Just An Old Love Turned Memory |
| 1977 | "More to Me" | #1 | - | - | She's Just An Old Love Turned Memory |
| 1977 | "She's Just An Old Love Turned Memory" | #1 | - | - | She's Just An Old Love Turned Memory |
| 1978 | "Burgers and Fries" | #2 | - | - | Burgers and Fries |
| 1978 | "Someone Loves You Honey" | #1 | - | - | Someone Loves You Honey |
| 1978 | "When I Stop Leaving (I'll Be Gone)" | #3 | - | - | - |
[edit] Sources
- Country Music: The Rough Guide; Wolff, Kurt; Penguin Publishing
- All Music Guide.com
