Country Superstar Charlie Pride Passes Away From COVID At 86

He was the son of a Mississippi sharecropper who became the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.  Charlie Pride was a country music legend.  We’re sad to report that Pride has passed away at age 86 from COVID-19.

Rolling Stone writes:

Born in Sledge, Mississippi, in 1934, Pride picked cotton, played baseball in the Negro leagues, served in the U.S. Army, and worked in a smelting plant in Montana before moving to Nashville and becoming country music’s first black superstar. He scored 52 Top 10 country hits, including 29 Number Ones, and was the first African-American performer to appear on the Grand Ole Opry stage since Deford Bailey made his debut in the 1920s. Pride became an Opry member in 1993. In 2000, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Here is Pride’s last performance, singing his hit song, “Kiss an Angel Good Morning” at the Country Music Awards last month.