The Boomer REport - Music Fun Facts

Charley Pride - 10 Fun Facts

  1. He was one of 11 children – Born in 1934 in Sledge, Mississippi, Charley was the son of a sharecropper. His family lived in a shack with no electricity or plumbing.
  2. His first dream was baseball, not music – Pride was a standout pitcher and played in the Negro American League for teams like the Memphis Red Sox and Birmingham Black Barons before switching to music full-time.
  3. He bought his first guitar at 14 - with money earned from picking cotton – Even though baseball was his main focus, he taught himself to play and sing country music.
  4. He broke into country music with no image on his records – RCA Records initially released his singles without photos, fearing racial bias might prevent DJs from playing them.
  5. He was the first Black solo artist to perform at the Grand Ole Opry since 1925 – When Pride performed in 1967, he was the first African American solo artist to play the Opry since harmonica player DeFord Bailey in the 1920s.
  6. Elvis’s manager helped get him signed – Chet Atkins (also an RCA exec) took a chance on Pride’s early demos and signed him despite the country industry being virtually all-white at the time.
  7. His first big hit was “Just Between You and Me” (1967) – It launched a streak of success, and he would go on to earn 29 No. 1 country hits.
  8. He won CMA Entertainer of the Year in 1971 – He was the first (and still one of the only) Black artists to win this honor, which shocked the industry at the time.
  9. He faced racism head-on with kindness – Pride said when fans made racist remarks, he’d respond with humor and grace: “I tell them, ‘That’s okay, I’m your country singer, not your Black country singer."
  10. He was a licensed pilot and flew his own planes – Like many country stars in the ’70s, Pride learned to fly and often piloted himself between tour stops.