On this day (March 18) in 1934, Charley Pride was born in Sledge, Mississippi. With the help of a few Nashville heavy hitters, who made sure his music reached audiences before his image, he broke into the country music world. A long string of hit singles and albums made him one of the genre’s most successful artists in the 1960s and ’70s. More than five decades later, his songs still strike a chord with country fans around the world.
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Pride was the son of a sharecropper and grew up on a cotton farm in Mississippi. When the family wasn’t working in the fields, they were gathered around the radio, listening to country music. They tuned in to hear the Grand Ole Opry every weekend. As a result, Pride’s early musical education came from the likes of Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, and Hank Williams. He learned their songs and sang along. However, he didn’t initially plan to be a country singer. Instead, he hoped to follow in the footsteps of his hero, Jackie Robinson, and play professional baseball.
[RELATED: How Charley Pride Dominated the Country Music World in 1972]
Baseball Led Charley Pride to Nashville
Charley Pride played for a string of minor league teams, including the New York Yankees’ Boise, Idaho-based farm team. In 1960, he relocated to Helena, Montana, where he landed a spot on the East Helena Smelterites. The position led to a job at the Asarco lead smelting plant, which kept several jobs specifically for members of the baseball team. It was here that his singing talent was discovered, according to Helena As She Was.
The team’s manager heard Pride singing and offered to pay him to sing for 15 minutes before each game. At the same time, he began playing gigs at local bars. It was at one of those bar gigs in Helena where Red Sovine and Red Foley heard him sing in 1962. They were impressed and urged him to go to Nashville. The next year, he went to Music City and auditioned for manager Jack Johnson, who was also blown away by Pride’s talent.
Johnson then introduced Pride to Cowboy Jack Clement. The producer took Pride to the RCA studio in Nashville to record a demo. The demo tape impressed Chet Atkins, who flew to Los Angeles to get approval to sign the new artist. According to the Country Music Hall of Fame, Atkins didn’t reveal that Pride was Black until after label executives agreed to sign him.
Pride Rises to Fame
Charley Pride’s first two singles–“The Snakes Crawl at Night” and “Before I Met You”–failed to chart. Then, “Just Between You and Me” peaked at No. 9, kicking off a string of 10 top 10 hits. This hot streak included his first two chart-toppers–“All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)” and “(I’m So) Afraid of Losing You Again.”
The 1970s brought more chart success. Songs like “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone,” “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’,” “I’m Just Me,” and “Amazing Love” topped the chart. Pride would continue to consistently launch singles to the upper region of the country chart until the mid-1980s.
Charley Pride scored 52 top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Twenty-nine of those songs went to the top of the tally. He won Entertainer of the Year at the 1971 CMA Awards and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000.
He left behind a vast collection of timeless songs that continue to move listeners today. More importantly, he blazed a trail for generations of artists.
Featured Image by David Redfern/Redferns
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