After more than 50 years as a recording artist, Charley Pride can add another feather to the cap of his Hall of Fame career: CMA’s 2020 Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award.
Charley will accept the honor during the 54th CMA Awards on Nov. 11 in Nashville.
The Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award was established to recognize an artist who has achieved both national and international prominence and stature through concert performances, humanitarian efforts, philanthropy, record sales, and public representation at the highest level. Previous recipients of the Willie Nelson Lifetime Achievement Award include Willie Nelson (2012), Kenny Rogers (2013), Johnny Cash (2015), Dolly Parton (2016) and Kris Kristofferson (2019).
Charley, a three-time Grammy winner, is considered country music’s first African-American superstar. He signed to RCA Victor in 1967 and earned a string of No. 1 hits, including “All I Have to Offer You (Is Me),” “(I’m So) Afraid of Losing You Again,” “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’,” “Amazing Love” and many more. Charley won the CMA’s Entertainer of the Year award in 1971 and Top Male Vocalist in 1971 and 1972. Charley became the Grand Ole Opry’s first African-American member in 1993. He received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2017 for outstanding contributions of artistic significance to the field of recording.
photo by TCD
