Charley Pride, who the first Black performer to become a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, died at age 86, Saturday, in Dallas, Texas from complications due to Covid-19.
Pride sold millions of records, becoming the first Black performer to become a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, among many other honors.
On November 11th, Pride took the stage at the 2020 ‘Country Music Association Awards’ to receive the ‘Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award’, an honor the organization gives out to “an iconic artist who has attained the highest degree of recognition in Country Music.”
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Before receiving the Lifetime Achievement Grammy, he told NPR he often resisted the label of pioneer.
“I've never seen anything but the staunch American Charley Pride,” he said. “When I got into it, they used different descriptions. They'll say, 'Charley, how did it feel to be the Jackie Robinson of country music?' or 'How did it feel to be first colored country singer?.”
“It don't bother me, other than I have to explain it to you how I maneuvered around all these obstacles to get to where I am today,” he continued. “I've got a great-grandson and daughter, and they're gonna be asking them that too if we don't get out of this crutch we all been in all these years of trying to get free of all that, you see? 'Y'all,' 'them' and 'us.'”
He appeared at the CMA Awards alongside Jimmie Allen, and performed “Kiss an Angel Good Morning’, making Eric Church watched the performance with a grin as Ashley McBryde danced.
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He humbly acknowledged that he was “nervous as can be,” recalling, backstage something producer Cowboy Jack Clement told him: “He said, ‘Charley, these songs we recorded right now, 50 years from now, you’ll be able to play them and they ’ll love them. I looked at him and I said, 50 years?. Anyway.”
So far, the Black performer has received tributes from artists including Dolly Parton, who tweeted: “I’m so heartbroken that one of my dearest and oldest friends, Charley Pride, has passed away. It’s even worse to know that he passed away from COVID-19. What a horrible, horrible virus. Charley, we will always love you.”
“Rest In Peace. My love and thoughts go out to his family and all of his fans,” Parton added in another tweet.
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On his part, Darius Rucker hailed the Black Performer’s career , saying: “No person of color had ever done what he has done.”
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