{"id":1319712,"date":"2020-04-30T11:00:13","date_gmt":"2020-04-30T17:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/?p=1820636"},"modified":"2020-04-30T11:00:13","modified_gmt":"2020-04-30T17:00:13","slug":"country-legends-we-love-charley-pride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/music-news\/country-legends-we-love-charley-pride\/","title":{"rendered":"Country Legends We Love: Charley Pride"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/cmt.mtvnimages.com\/uri\/mgid:ao:image:cmt.com:692395?width=1200&amp;height=675&amp;.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"byline\"> by <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/author\/morrise\/\" title=\"Posts by Edward Morris\" rel=\"author\">Edward Morris<\/a><\/span> <span class=\"date\"><br \/>\n58m ago<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span> <\/p>\n<p>Charley Pride, whose accolades include membership to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry, as well as the CMA Entertainer of the Year award, is considered country music\u2019s first African American superstar. He scored 29 No. 1 hits between 1969 and 1983 and charted 67 singles in his groundbreaking career.<\/p>\n<p>Charley Frank Pride was born into a sharecropping family in Sledge, Mississippi, on March 18, 1934. He recalled walking four miles to and from a segregated grade school while white children passed by in school buses. Because his father scorned the roughness and ribaldry of blues music, Pride grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry and idolizing such stars as Roy Acuff and Ernest Tubb.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"> Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u0zCqq6UY7s?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/u0zCqq6UY7s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>\t<\/iframe><\/noscript>\n<\/div>\n<p>As a teenager, he bought his first guitar from money earned picking cotton. Two years later, he quit school to play professional baseball in the Negro American League and emerged as a star pitcher. Then he joined the Army, in which he served for two years. He married his wife, Rozene, over Christmas break in 1956.<\/p>\n<p>He returned briefly to baseball upon his military discharge in 1958, playing for the Pioneer League, before moving on to work in a smelting plant in Helena, Montana. It was there in 1962 that singers Red Foley and Red Sovine heard him singing a Hank Williams song and urged him to come to Nashville.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"> Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rouSFhnQapE?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rouSFhnQapE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>\t<\/iframe><\/noscript>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pride did so, walking to Cedarwood Publishing (which booked Sovine\u2019s shows) after being dropped off at the Greyhound station in Nashville. There he happened to meet Cedarwood\u2019s Jack Johnson, who recorded a few tracks, agreed to be his manager, and tried in vain to get him a label deal. However, it wasn\u2019t until a 1965 introduction to maverick Nashville producer \u201cCowboy\u201d Jack Clement that things started to happen.<\/p>\n<p>Impressed by Pride\u2019s formidable baritone voice and Hollywood good looks, Clement recorded some songs on the new prospect and sent them to Chet Atkins, who then headed RCA Records\u2019 country division. The Civil Rights movement was just beginning to heat up at this point, but as others before him had been Atkins was so drawn to Pride\u2019s voice and demeanor that he signed him in 1966. The label initially billed him as \u201cCountry Charley Pride.\u201d At first, Pride\u2019s singles were sent to radio stations without the usual publicity photo enclosed.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"> Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1-VrQyRPXqs?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1-VrQyRPXqs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>\t<\/iframe><\/noscript>\n<\/div>\n<p>He charted his first single, Clement\u2019s composition \u201cJust Between You and Me,\u201d in 1966. It went Top 10, and five of his subsequent six releases went Top 5. In 1969, he had his first No. 1 with \u201cAll I Have to Offer You (Is Me).\u201d From then on, until his chart successes began tapering off in the mid-1980s, most of his RCA singles hit No. 1 and only rarely ranking less than Top 5. His albums routinely were certified gold, signifying half a million copies. <\/p>\n<p>Throughout his career, Pride performed without any visible chip on his shoulder, seeming to dismiss any racial roadblocks with easygoing humor (often quipping about his \u201cpermanent tan\u201d). But he was not oblivious nor impervious to racial slights. In the 2019 <em>Country Music<\/em> documentary on PBS, he revealed that RCA was particularly vigilant in his choice of love songs to record. He said he wanted to record \u201cThe Green Green Grass of Home,\u201d but that the label balked because of the line, \u201cDown the road I look and there comes Mary\/ Hair of gold and lips like cherries\u201d since the \u201chair of gold\u201d marked Mary as a white woman.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"> Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tltKLTGYhZM?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/tltKLTGYhZM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>\t<\/iframe><\/noscript>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pride made his Grand Ole Opry debut in 1967 and, after repeated invitations to join the cast of the revered radio show, finally did so in 1993. His 1971 hit, \u201cKiss an Angel Good Mornin\u2019,\u201d topped the country charts for five weeks and earned a song of the year Grammy for its writer Ben Peters (and a nomination for Pride as a singer). It also rose to No. 21 on the pop charts.<\/p>\n<p>Pride won three performance Grammys \u2014 two for gospel and one for country \u2014 as well as a lifetime achievement Grammy in 2017. In 1971, the Country Music Association voted Pride its Entertainer of the Year, as well as its Male Vocalist in 1971 and 1972.<\/p>\n<div class=\"deferred_content\"> Embedded from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/78KiZk_Yric?feature=oembed\">www.youtube.com<\/a>. <noscript class=\"deferred_content\" data-deferred-info=\"{&quot;type&quot;:&quot;iframe&quot;}\"> <iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/78KiZk_Yric?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen>\t<\/iframe><\/noscript>\n<\/div>\n<p>A canny businessman, Pride invested well in real estate, banking, music publishing, talent booking and management. Many country acts that would later become famous were mentored by Pride and opened shows for him, including Janie Fricke, Neal McCoy and Dave &amp; Sugar.<\/p>\n<p>In Pride\u2019s case, his hits really are too numerous to mention, but among them are \u201cIs Anybody Going to San Antone,\u201d \u201cI\u2019m Just Me,\u201d \u201cAfraid of Losing You Again,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s Gonna Take a Little Bit Longer,\u201d \u201cHope You\u2019re Feelin\u2019 Me (Like I\u2019m Feelin\u2019 You),\u201d \u201cMy Eyes Can Only See as Far as You\u201d and \u201cShe\u2019s Just an Old Love Turned Memory.\u201d Pride reached the Top 10 at country radio 52 times. <\/p>\n<p>In 1985, Pride had a very public falling out with RCA, quitting the label, he said, because it was paying more attention to its younger acts than its established ones. Although his chart presence ended in 1989, he continued to record for various smaller labels and make appearances. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author\">\n<div class=\"description\"> Edward Morris is a veteran of country music journalism. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is a frequent contributor to CMT.com. <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cmt.com\/news\/1820636\/country-legends-we-love-charley-pride\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">via:: CMT News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Edward Morris 58m ago Charley Pride, whose accolades include membership to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry, as well as the CMA Entertainer of the Year award, is considered country music\u2019s first African American superstar. He scored 29 No. 1 hits between 1969 and 1983 and charted 67 singles [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[159],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1319712","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-music-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-15 23:49:37","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319712","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1319712"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1319712\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1319712"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1319712"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1319712"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}