Charley Pride: taken by Covid Dec 12

Country singer Charley Pride died Dec 12 after getting Covid. He was 86. He was the first black singer to really succeed in country music. He had over 50 top 10 country songs in the 60's, 70's and 80's.

His first love was baseball. He wanted to follow in Jackie Robinson's footsteps. However, he sang better than he pitched. He was working for Anaconda copper. Playing semi-pro baseball for the company and singing locally in Helena, Montana. He opened for country singer Red Sovine who encouraged to go to Nashville.

It took two years before Chet Atkins heard him and signrd him to RCA. Many record executives heard his stuff and loved it, but refused to sign an African-American as a country singer.

His early recordings were sent to radio stations with his name but without the usual publicity photos. Country station DJ's loved his music and played it. Their audiences also loved his music. Stylistically and thematically his music was mostly traditional country. His best known crossover hit was "Kiss an Angel Good Morning," released in 1971.

He was born a son of a sharecropper in Mississippi abs grew up picking cotton. His military service allowed him to leave there and end up in Montana.

Another great one taken from us by this nasty Covid disease.

Condolences to his family and friends. RIP, Charley.

RIP

Recall enjoying his music on country radio in the 70s.

https://www.npr.org/2020/12/13/9459...ey-pride-dies-of-covid-19-complications-at-86

His last appearance was at the indoor, largely maskless CMA awards in Nashville.

https://www.accessonline.com/articl...n-about-charley-prides-covid-19-related-death

“You don’t have to call me Charlie Pride...”

RIP

Many of his hits are still in my rotation.

Trailblazer and gifted entertainer! RIP, Charley Pride.

What Country Music Asked of Charley Pride: The singer put himself on the line to become the genre’s first Black superstar. He died on Saturday not long after performing at a largely mask-free awards ceremony.

Those responsible for organizing the CMAs were not unaware of the risks posed by the coronavirus. The CMA president, Sarah Trahern, told Variety that the organization administered around 3,000 coronavirus tests to performers and staff, in addition to temperature checks and questionnaires. The performers who attended were given face shields to wear anytime they were not seated at their table or onstage during the event. In footage posted from backstage during show rehearsals, the show’s executive producer, Robert Deaton, is shown wearing a mask and a face shield when speaking to Pride and Allen about their performance.

Unsurprisingly, the CMAs went into damage control mode this weekend. The organization’s news release about Pride’s death mentioned his award, but made no mention of his performance last month.

Regardless, recent events are a painful asterisk on Pride’s career, and a reminder of the ways Nashville remained deaf to his unique circumstances. That insensitivity continues apace. Pride was a pathbreaker, but the path largely remained empty in his wake, owing to an industry for which the image of racial comity is more important than the furtherance of it, and for which the appearance of freedom during a pandemic far outweighs any cost that arises from that hubris.

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Weird...I know that guy from years ago.