Crystal Chandeliers

Buck Billo and Maxi sing "Crystal Chandeliers" by Charlie Pride.
Pride was born on a cotton farm in Sledge, MS. His father was a sharecropper on the farm at a time. When he was 14 years old, Charley bought a guitar from Sears Roebuck and proceeded to learn how to play by listening to country music on the radio. Two years later, he turned his attention to baseball. He joined the Negro American League, playing with the Memphis Red Sox. After playing ball for two years, Pride joined the U.S. Army, where he served for two years. Upon his discharge, he intended to return to baseball, but he sustained injuries that affected his throwing arm. Discouraged that he couldn't qualify for the major leagues, Pride began working construction in Helena, MT, while he still played in the minors. Eventually, he earned a tryout for the California Angels in 1961, but they turned him down; the following year, the New York Mets rejected him as well.

Following his rejection in baseball, Pride turned his attention to music, and in 1963, he sang "Lovesick Blues" for Red Foley and Red Sovine backstage at one of Sovine's concerts. The veteran musicians were impressed and told Charley to go to Nashville. Heeding their advice, he traveled to Music City, but he couldn't break into the industry. However, both of the Reds and Webb Pierce kept recommending the fledgling singer to their associates and eventually helped him secure a management deal with Jack Johnson. Through Johnson, Pride met Jack Clement, who sent a demo tape of Pride's to Chet Atkins at RCA, who signed the vocalist in 1966. Later that year, Pride's debut single, "The Snakes Crawl at Night," was released but was issued without a publicity photograph, since the label was afraid that radio programmers would be reluctant to lend support to a black country singer. Both "The Snakes Crawl at Night" and his second single, "Before I Met You," gained a small audience, but it wasn't until "Just Between You and Me" that Charley became a star. Released at the end of 1966, "Just Between You and Me" climbed to number nine and began a virtually uninterrupted streak of Top Ten singles that ran until 1984; out of his 54 singles released during those 18 years, only three failed to crack the Top Ten.

However, Pride's success didn't arrive as easily as it may seem. Though he was praised upon the release of "Just Between You and Me" and won a Grammy award for the single, there remained resistance in certain quarters of the country audience to a black performer. Nevertheless, the consistent quality of Pride's music and the support from his fellow musicians helped break down doors. And the doors began to open very quickly — on January 7, 1967, he became the first black artist to perform on the Grand Ole Opry since DeFord Bailey in 1925. Over the next two years, his star steadily rose, and between 1969 and 1971, he had six straight number one singles: "All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)," "I'm So Afraid of Losing You Again," "(Is Anybody Going To) San Antone," "Wonder Could I Live There Anymore," "I Can't Believe That You've Stopped Loving Me," and "I'd Rather Love You." All of those singles also charted in the lower regions of the pop charts, giving evidence of his smooth, country-pop crossover appeal. "Let Me Live," taken from his gospel album, Did You Think to Pray?, temporarily broke his streak of number one singles in the spring of 1971, but it won a Grammy for Best Gospel Performance. Directly after "Let Me Live," two of his biggest hits — "I'm Just Me" and "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'" — arrived, earning him his greatest success on both the country and pop charts.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Buck
• Billo
• Maxi
• Classic
• Country
• Charlie
• Pride

[buster541]

Makes me want to pull Myrna out of her easy chair and dance. I enjoyed this very much!

Thank's!

*****

Curt

[buckandbilloshow]

Don't think about it! Just do it! :)

[SafeRoughneck]

A splended rendition of this classic. I have this song listed in my songs to sing but 5*****'s goes out to you. Best Wishes from George.

[buckandbilloshow]

Thanks very much George

[sjkalsc]

Great guys!!!! 5*****s and thank you for sharing.

Dianne

[buckandbilloshow]

Thanks for watching Dianne.

[hgrail1]

May I use this wonderful song in my opening for the 6 chandeliers I am making for my Masters in Art Education?? Please.

[RickyCountryAtHeart]

great video good job on this

[buckandbilloshow]

Thanks so much, we will be doing that one in about 30 songs. So it will probably go up sometime late December or January. We try to do them in our planned order.

[pegxxx]

Great job.