100 Greatest Men: #23. Charley Pride

Charley Pride100 Greatest Men: The Complete List

Over the course of just fourteen years, Charley Pride accumulated 29 #1 country hits, proof positive that his switch from professional baseball to music was the right one.

Pride hailed from Sledge, Mississippi, one of eleven sharecropper children.  He was a guitar player early on, but he first made his name in baseball, playing in both the Negro League and on several minor league baseball teams, including the Memphis Red Sox and the Boise Yankees.   His career was derailed by a stint in the Army, followed by an arm injury that made his signature pitching an impossibility.   He worked construction while unsuccessfully auditioning for baseball teams, then turned his attention to music.

Country music was his style of choice, despite the lack of African-American performers who’d found success within the genre.  He auditioned for Red Sovine, who recommended he move to Nashville.  Shortly thereafter, he was signed to RCA by Chet Atkins.   Pride found success quickly, with his first single, “Just Between You and Me”, reaching the top ten and earning a Grammy nomination.   Pride soon entered his greatest period of commercial success, releasing ten gold albums between the years of 1967 and 1972.

Many of his hits during that time went on to become country classics, but none were bigger than his 1971 smash, “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’.”   That Grammy-winning hit spent five weeks at #1, crossed over to the pop chart, won a Grammy, and sold a million copies.  Coupled with its predecessor, “I’m Just Me”, it helped Pride win the CMA Male Vocalist of the Year award twice and Entertainer of the Year once.

Pride continued to dominate the charts throughout the seventies and the first half of the eighties, receiving huge critical acclaim for his album of Hank Williams covers in 1980.   One of his final #1 hits, “You’re So Good When You’re Bad”, received renewed airplay and sales when it was featured at length on the television series Designing Women.   By the nineties, Pride was a star headliner in Branson, Missouri, and a newly minted Opry member in 1993.  He also remained active in baseball, as part owner of the Texas Rangers.

Pride continues to perform today, and is still picking up accolades along the way.  He was given the ACM Pioneer Award in 1994, inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000, and was inducted into the Cowboy of Color Hall of Fame in 2006.

Essential Singles:

  • Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger, 1967
  • All I Have to Offer You (Is Me), 1969
  • Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone, 1970
  • I’m Just Me, 1971
  • Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’, 1971
  • Mississippi Cotton Picking Delta Town, 1974
  • She’s Just an Old Love Turned Memory, 1977
  • You’re My Jamaica, 1979
  • You’re So Good When You’re Bad, 1982

Essential Albums:

  • Country, 1966
  • The Country Way, 1967
  • Charley Pride in Person, 1969
  • Just PLain Charley, 1970
  • Charley Pride’s 10th Album, 1970
  • Did You Think to Pray, 1971
  • Sings Heart Songs, 1971
  • Amazing Love, 1973
  • There’s a Little Bit of Hank in Me, 1980

Next: #22. Alan Jackson

Previous: #24. The Statler Brothers

100 Greatest Men: The Complete List

6 Comments

  1. While I wasn’t a country music fan during the period of his greatest commercial success, I do like his sound so I bought a 16 biggest hits album a few years ago. I can see why “Kiss an Angel Good Morning” was such a big hit but the remainder of his material for me was just ok.

  2. I’ve really been enjoying your list, and mostly i agree with your picks and rankings, but I beleive that being the first black man to have success in country music, just that by itself,s hould have him in the top 10.

  3. Apparently Charley Pride was a great live performer.

    I have heard a lot of good things about the ‘Charley Pride – In Person’ live album. That might actually be his most essential LP.

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