Country music legend, singer, baseball player and groundbreaker Charley Pride passed away today at 86 from COVID-19. He was born in Sledge, Mississippi March 18, 1934, the fourth of eleven children born to poor sharecroppers.
He got his first guitar at 14 and taught himself to play. In 1952, he pitched for the Memphis Red Sox of the Negro American League, and then signed with the Boise Yankees, the farm team of the New York Yankees. An injury caused him to be traded (with another player) to the Birmingham Black Barons.
He was pitching for a semipro team in Helena, Montana when his singing ability became known. He released his first single The Snakes Crawl at Night in 1966. It did not chart and neither did the second single. But his third Just Between You and Me reached #9 on the US Country Chart. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for it the next year.
He won four Grammys over his career including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
He is one of only three African-Americans to become a member of the Grand Ol' Opry and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000. He's had 30 #1 country hits.
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