All of us owe a debt to those who came before us for where we are today, but it’s a little simpler in the music world. It’s simple to trace how older musicians have influenced younger ones by looking at how music in each genre has evolved over time, and those influences also spill into mixes between genres that offer new sounds with an old heart.
The country music genre has taken a turn for the worse in recent years, according to many fans. The continuing interest and adoration for the classic artists who laid the groundwork is testament to their importance. Charley Pride is one of those early country music performers, and his life with his lifelong wife serves as a real-life happy ending to a traditional country song. Who Is Charley Pride’s Wife: What We Know.
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Charley Pride dreamed of playing baseball
In the Mississippi Delta region, Pride was born in 1934. He was the fourth of eleven children, according to PBS, and his sharecropper father and mother raised their large family in a tiny shotgun house. Even as a small boy, he had grand aspirations:
“I used to sit on the porch and gaze up at the clouds. And I said, ‘Boy, how great would it be to ride above them clouds?’” After witnessing Jackie Robinson break into baseball’s big leagues, he believed he’d found his way out.
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Yes, Pride was a gifted athlete, and his pitching skills earned him a spot on the Memphis Red Sox at the age of 16. He moved from one team to another for a while with several promising leads that never panned out. When he began performing in local bars as part of a semi-pro Montana baseball team, his true talents emerged.
Charley Pride was a celebrated musician
Pride, despite his obvious talent, had little chance of becoming a great country music artist in Nashville because of his race. His ethnicity made him stand out in Nashville, and he struggled to get signed to a label. Finally, RCA signed him in 1966, but they intentionally withheld publicity photos to disguise the fact that Pride was Black from listeners.
When he finally appeared on stage at live shows, stunned audiences would typically fall silent. Pride took it all with a smile: “Ladies and gentlemen, I realize it’s kind of unusual for me to come out here on this sort of show wearing this permanent tan.”
The accolades would come rolling in. Pride became the first Black member of the Grand Ole Opry in decades and the first Black artist to have a number one album on the country charts.
He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000. This year, he received another distinction when he accepted the 2020 Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the CMAs.
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Charley Pride has been married to Rozene Pride since 1956
While many country songs extol the virtues of strong family values and sticking by your partner’s side, Pride has lived his life in a way that exemplifies them. He married his wife Rozene in 1956, and the couple have worked together to build a successful family and real estate business in Dallas, where they’ve lived for many years.
According to Wide Open Country, age isn’t preventing Pride from pursuing his hobbies. He may be 86 years old, but he continues to create music and released an album in 2017. Pride has made a significant impact on the country music industry, and he’s earned all of it with Rozene by his side.
