Charley Pride

From ArticleWorld

[[Category:United States musicians|Pride, Charlie]

Charley Frank Pride is an African American country music singer and songwriter. He is one of the only African Americans to lead a successful career in country music. He was also a baseball player in the Negro League before turning to music.

Pride was born on March 18, 1938 to a large, poverty stricken family in Sledge, Mississippi. Pride always wanted to be a baseball player and was playing for the Memphis Red Sox in Memphis, Tennessee when he met his wife, Rozene. He would play the guitar and sing while on the road for baseball games.

When he finally realized he would not ever make it to Major League Baseball, Pride turned all of his attention to his music career. He made a demo for RCA Records and they signed him immediately. The single was released in 1966 and both songs, "Atlantic Coastal Line" and "Snakes Crawl at Night" were soon hits.

Throughout his music career, Pride has produced over 36 No.1 country singles and has sold more than 70 million albums, 31 gold albums, four platinum albums, and one quadruple platinum. Charley Pride is second only to Elvis Presley in RCA sales. Pride won Entertainer of the Year in 1971 and was voted Top Male Vocalist the same year and again in 1972.

Some of Pride’s biggest hits include "Kiss An Angel Good Morning," "Is Anybody Goin’ To San Antone?", "You’re So Good When You’re Bad," and "When I Stop Leaving I’ll Be Gone." Like many other artists in his generation, he pays tribute to the country legends that shaped the music he sang, namely Hank Williams with the album 'There’s a Little Bit of Hank in Me and in 1999 he was awarded his own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2004 he was also inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.