Black America lost two of its iconic figures this month.
Both born in 1934, Rafer Lewis Johnson died of a stroke on December 2 in Los Angeles and Charley Frank Pride was a COVID-19 victim who succumbed on December 12 in Dallas, Texas.
Both men were athletes, Johnson an Olympic decathlete, and Pride was once a pitcher in the Negro Leagues.
Born in Texas, Johnson moved with his family to the San Joaquin Valley town of Kingsburg and became a high school sports phenomenon while picking cotton with his father and siblings.
Johnson was a silver medalist in the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, and a gold medalist in Rome in 1960, the same year Wilma Rudolph, Muhammed Ali, and Oscar Roberson competed.
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Fabulous Flip Sides In Memoriam â Charley Pride
Remembering country music legend Charley Pride with Bill Anderson and Naomi Judd
Author:
CMA Music Festival, 2018, photo by John Shearer/Contour, Getty Images
On December 12, we lost Charley Pride at the age of 86 from COVID-19. The prior month, he performed and received the CMA Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award at the 54th Annual Country Music Association Awards, hosted by Reba McEntire and Darius Rucker. Charley was a friend of
Goldmine, participating in multiple interviews in recent years. In his 2014
Goldmine interview Charley said, “I love Darius Rucker. He is from Hootie and The Blowfish! Darius is a great songwriter. I remember a fun time when we were both sitting backstage at the Opry singing together, before a show.” Darius Rucker said that Charley Pride destroyed barriers, did things that no one had done and considered him one of the finest people who he has known.
Dec 16, 2020
Country legend Charley Pride passed away December 12th in Dallas, TX. Pride s death was due to complications from Covid-19, according to Jeremy Westby of the public relations firm 2911 Media.
Pride was 86 years old.
Pride, country music s first Black star whose hits as Kiss an Angel Good Morning helped sell millions of records and made him the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Pride released dozens of albums and sold more than 25 million records during a career that began in the mid-1960s. He had three Grammy Awards, more than 30 No. 1 hits between 1969 and 1984.
Great hits like -
Country artists including
Darius Rucker, and
Tim McGraw took to social media to honor Charley s legacy as a pioneer for country music and Black musicians.
The beloved, barrier-breaking country star
Charley Pride has died at 86 from health complications tied to the coronavirus.
The singer, who was the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, died Saturday in Dallas of complications from COVID-19, the Associated Press reported.
The three-time Grammy Award winner had dozens of hit songs, including 30 No. 1 hits. Some of his most popular songs include “Kiss an Angel Good Morning, “Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone,” “Burgers and Fries,” “Mountain of Love,” and “Someone Loves You Honey.”