Manitoba Live Music Event

About

Born to poor sharecroppers, one of eleven children in Sledge, Mississippi, Pride is a timeless everyman, revered by his musical peers and adored by countless millions of fans around the globe. His golden baritone voice has transcended race and spanned the generations.

Charley Pride unofficially started his music career in the late 1950s as a ballplayer with the Negro American League's Memphis Red Sox singing and playing guitar on the team bus between ballparks. Self-taught on a guitar bought at the age 14 from Sears Roebuck, Pride would join various bands' onstage as he and the team roved the country.

After a tryout with the New York Mets, Pride decided to return to his Montana home via Nashville. It was there he met Jack Johnson, who upon hearing the singer perform, sent him on his way with the promise of a management contract and a newly forged relationship that would last for over a decade.

What happened next is Country Music history. Charley Pride quickly became Country Music's first African-American superstar. Between 1967 and 1987, he amassed no fewer than 52 Top-10 Country hits and went on to sell tens of millions of records worldwide. In 1971, Charley won two Grammy Awards related to his Gospel album DID YOU THINK TO PRAY 'Best Sacred Performance, Musical (Non-Classical)' for the album, as well as 'Best Gospel Performance Other Than Soul' for the single 'Let Me Live.' Later that year, his #1 crossover hit 'Kiss An Angel Good Mornin' sold over a million singles and helped him to win the Country Music Association's Entertainer of the Year award and the 'Top Male Vocalist' awards of 1971 and 1972. It also brought him a 'Best Male Country Vocal Performance' Grammy Award in 1972. Some of Charley's unforgettable hits from his 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s output include 'All I Have To Offer You Is Me,' 'Is Anybody Goin' To San Antone,' 'Amazing Love,' 'Mississippi Cotton Pickin' Delta Town,' 'Burgers And Fries,' 'Roll On Mississippi' and 'Mountain Of Love.' After parting ways with RCA Records in 1986, Charley spent the remainder of the decade releasing albums on the 16th Avenue Records label.