A biography for Charley Pridehasn’t been written yet.
“Singing as a full-time job was not something I had given a lot of thought to and I had no clear notion of the money to be made in it.”
“Until MTV, television had not been a huge influence on music. To compete with MTV, the country music moguls felt they had to appeal to the same young audience and do it the way MTV did.”
“Fans will praise you, scold you, and offer helpful advice. Fans will also defend you.”
“It used to be that if you had a pretty good record, you could stop by a station in Little Rock or Atlanta and let the DJ listen to it. No way something like that can happen now.”
“I grew up not liking my father very much. I never saw him cry. But he must have. Everybody cries.”
“A black man singing about a blond girl was potential trouble.”
“When I came up, there was room for the new and the old. For every new artist, an old one didn't have to be pushed out.”
“Fans are what make a performer and I've always taken them seriously.”
“Even now, when I'm asked how I'm doing, I like to reply, 'Pretty good. I've got all my fingers and both eyes.”
“I learned to tune a guitar by ear. That method has served me pretty well.”
“In 20 years I had sold more records for RCA than any artist except Elvis Presley.”