Country music legend Charley Pride passes away at 86

Charley Pride, country music's first Black superstar, has died of complications from coronavirus at age 86. Pride, known for hits like "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'" and "Is Anybody Goin' to San Antone", died Saturday in Dallas, Texas, according to a statement shared on the singer's official website. Born a sharecropper's son in Sledge, Mississippi, on March 18, 1934, Pride emerged from Southern cotton fields to also become the first Black member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Veteran country singer and Pride's friend, Dolly Parton was among the first to pay tributes on social media. "I'm so heartbroken that one of my dearest and oldest friends, Charley Pride, has passed away. It's even



worse to know that he passed away from Covid-19. What a horrible, horrible virus," Parton tweeted.

"Charley, we will always love you. Rest In Peace. My love and thoughts go out to his family and all of his fans," she added.

Singer-songwriter Billy Ray Cyrus remembered Pride as a "gentleman, legend and true trail blazer".

"The last time I spoke to my good friend and legend Charley Pride. We met in '92 playing shows together in Australia. His beloved sweetheart Rosie by his side," Cyrus wrote on the microblogging site.

Calling the late icon a "great one", Australian singer Keith Urban said Pride was among the country's first music voices he heard on his family's record player.