Becoming a trailblazing Country Music superstar was an improbable destiny for Charley Pride (born March 18, 1938), especially considering his humble beginnings as a sharecropper’s son on a cotton farm in Sledge, Mississippi. His unique journey to the top of the music charts includes a tumultuous detour through the world of Negro league, minor league and semi-pro baseball as well as many long years of labor alongside the vulcanic fires of a smelter.

Read more about Charley Pride on Last.fm.