Charley Pride net worth: Charley Pride was an American country music singer, musician, and former baseball player who had a net worth of $40 million at the time of his death in December 2020. Charley was known as the first black country music super star. He was the second best-selling performer on RCA Records after Elvis for many years and one of very few African-American performers to find success in country music. In 1971 he won the Country Music Association’s entertainer of the year award. Some of his notable hits include “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin” and “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone”.
He left his mark on country music by being the first black person to be successful in it. He was second most successful artist on RCA next to Elvis. A black man accepted into country music with open arms. Charley Pride was born in Sledge, Mississippi in March 1934 the son of sharecroppers. He served in the Army before moving to Montana to pursue a career as a professional baseball player. During the day he worked at a smelting plant, at night he played semi-professional baseball for a team that would pay him an extra $10 to sing the national anthem before games. He also sang at local bars for fun. He was discovered at one of these local bar gigs and two years later – in 1963 – signed a record contract with RCA.
He soon relocated full-time to Nashville. His debut studio album Country by Charley was released in 1966. His 1967 single “Just Between You and Me” was a top 10 hit on the Billboard country singles chart. Over the next two decades, 51 Charley Pride records broke into Billboard’s top 10, with 29 hitting #1.
His singles “Just Between You and Me”, “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin” and “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone” were enormously successes.
His final and 47th album, Music in My Heart, was released in 2017.
Charley met his future wife Rozene during his baseball days. They married in 1956 while Charley was home from Army basic training. They had three children and remained married until his death in 2020. Pride had a tumor on his vocal cord in 1997 that was surgically removed at the University of Arkansas.
In 2000 Charley became a minority owner of the Texas Rangers Major League Baseball team.
Charley Pride died on December 12, 2020, at the age of 86 from COVID-19 complications. Several weeks earlier he received the Country Music Associations Lifetime Achievement Award. Critics would later point out that some people in attendance at the ceremony were not wearing masks and that Pride likely contracted COVID at the event.
It is sad Trump has caused the deaths of so many beloved people and all because he did not like the way he looked in a mask. The sad thing is 72 million Americans believe every lie out of his mouth. Even if this negligence caused a death of their loves ones. It is so sad that the hold he has on the Republican party-to them he is there greatest President in history. A lying loser, they will all have to support him and they are politically dead. The world will miss Charley Pride.
Born as Charley Frank Pride in Mississippi on March 18, 1934, he was raised by Mack Pride Sr and Tessie Stewart Pride. At the age of 14, he bought his first guitar and learned to play it by himself by listening to the radio. Pride was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Opry, where, in 1967, he became the first African American to sing at the venue. With three Grammy Awards in his kitty, he had at least 43 No.1 country singles and multiple albums. That needed to be repeated he was great.
When he last appeared on November 11 during the CMA, he gave his very last performance to all his fans, as he sang ‘Kiss An Angel Good Mornin’ at Nashville’s Music City Center with Jimmie Allen, a modern-day hitmaker who counts Pride among his heroes.
Pride’s hard work’s impact is seen in Black country performers today, including Darius Rucker, Jimmie Allen, Mickey Guyton, Rissi Palmer, Rhiannon Giddens, Yola and others. And Pride continued the legacy of DeFord Bailey, the first African American to perform music at the Grand Ole Opry. Did you know Pride was also an athlete? He played for the Negro American League from 1952 through 1958 becoming an all-star player in 1956. As thousands pay tribute to the artiste, here’s a look at his beautiful love story. 70 Million records sold.
