Charley Pride has died at the age of 86 from COVID-19. Pride was the first major Black country music singer to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000.
In late November, he was admitted to a hospital in Dallas, Texas, for complications related to the coronavirus and was later released to hospice care. There he died with his wife, Rozene, by his side, according to his PR team.
Pride’s breakthrough song “Just between you and me” was released in 1967. He won three Grammy awards and was referred to as the “Jackie Robinson” of country music.
When questioned about being a Black man who sang country music, he said: “No one had ever told me that whites were supposed to sing one kind of music and Blacks another — I sang whatever I liked in the only voice I had.”
Some of Pride’s greatest hits include: “Kiss an Angel Good Morning (1972),” his gospel great “Let me Live (1971)” and “Is anybody goin’ to San Antone” (1970).
In addition to his wife, Pride is survived by three children, Carlton Kraig Pride, Charles Dion Pride and Angela Rozene Pride, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren.