Over the weekend, a few well-meaning fans of Charley Pride read way too much into a post on WikiObits, a crowdsourced website which allows fans to contribute to obituaries of still-living celebrities.
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The Sledge, Mississippi-born country singer's page, which clearly states that he's still alive, had some fans hastily posting tributes.
It was more a misunderstanding than a death hoax, and fortunately it didn't spread as fast as past false reports about Willie Nelson. That said, Pride's publicity team at 2911 media saw fit to film a message from Pride and share it on social media. The 15-second clip proves that the 86-year-old legend's alive, sporting a quarantine beard and itching to perform live after the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic subsides.
"Hi fans, I'd just like to inform you that I'm looking forward to coming back on the road after this virus," Pride says in footage filmed at his Dallas, Texas home. "And I'm sorry you've been hearing all of these rumors and everything, but I'm still here."
After years of trying to see out his Major League Baseball dreams, Pride turned his attention to country music. His groundbreaking run with RCA Records began with the 1966 single "Snakes Crawl at Night" and proved itself permanent when "All I Have to Offer You (is Me)" topped the country charts in 1969. By the end of the '70s, Pride was a three-time Grammy award winner, his label's best-selling performer since Elvis Presley and a former CMA Entertainer of the Year and two-time Male Vocalist of the Year.
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In 1993, Pride became the second African-American member of the Grand Ole Opry. As of July 2020, early Opry star and harmonica player DeFord Bailey and contemporary artist Darius Rucker are the only other Black men to join the Nashville-based show's cast.
Pride's long list of hit country songs earned him a spot in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017.
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