Charley Pride, first major Black star in country music, dies at 86 of covid-19
Terence McArdle
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In the early 1960s, a young minor league baseball pitcher and aspiring country singer named Charley Pride had settled into a discouraging routine. His days were spent toiling in Helena, Mont., at a smelter operated by the Anaconda Copper Mining Co., and he spent his free time playing for its semipro baseball team, the East Helena Smelterites.
He stood out as an African American working in a musical genre that seldom welcomed Black voices. But he developed a small but enthusiastic fan base singing in Montana honky tonks, which in 1962 led to his invitation to perform before a show headlined by country singers Red Sovine and Red Foley.