COVID claims the life of legendary Black country singer Charley Pride

Coronavirus has claimed the life of a pioneering Black musician in the Country Music Hall of Fame.

"Charley Pride, the pioneering black country singer known for such hits as 'Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'' and 'Is Anybody Goin’ to San Antone,' has died from complications related to Covid-19, according to his publicist," Rolling Stone magazine reported Saturday.

"Born in Sledge, Mississippi, in 1934, Pride picked cotton, played baseball in the Negro league, worked in a smelting plant in Montana, and served in the U.S. Army before becoming country music’s first black superstar. He scored 52 Top 10 country hits, including 29 Number Ones, and was the first African-American performer to appear on the Grand Ole Opry stage since Deford Bailey made his debut in the 1920s. Pride became an Opry member in 1993. In 2000, he was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame," the magazine reported.

Pride was 86.

Read the full report.