"All I Have to Offer You Is Me" would be the first of 29 No. 1 hits for Pride, spanning to 1983's "Night Games."

In the summer of 1966, he was booked for his first large show, in Detroit's Olympia Stadium. Since no biographical information had been included with his hit singles, few of the 10,000 country fans who came to the show knew Pride was black, and only discovered the fact when he walked onstage, at which point the applause trickled off to silence. "I knew I'd have to get it over with sooner or later," Pride later recounted. "I told the audience: 'Friends, I realize it's a little unique, me coming out here--with a permanent suntan--to sing country and western to you. But that's the way it is.'"

"Soon I will know for once and for all
So I'll just cross my fingers and let the chips fall
The life that I'm living is just half a life
The girl that I married is just half a wife"

In 1971, Pride released what would become his biggest hit, "Kiss an Angel Good Mornin'", a million-selling crossover single that helped him land the Country Music Association's prestigious Entertainer of the Year award, as well as Top Male Vocalist.

At the time, the Troubles, the ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland were at their height, and few non-resident music and sports teams traveled there. Pride played the concert in November 1976, with his album song "Crystal Chandeliers" subsequently being released as a single in the UK and Ireland. He became a hero to both sides of the conflict for breaking the effective touring concert ban, and "Crystal Chandeliers" became known as a unity song.

In 1967, he became the first black performer to appear at the Grand Ole Opry since harmonica player DeFord Bailey (who was a regular cast member of the Opry from 1925 to 1941). He became a member of the Grand Ole Opry on May 1, 1993.

"When ever I chance to meet, some old friends on the street
They wonder how does a man get to be this way
I've always got a smiling face, anytime & any place
And every time they ask me why I just smile & say
You've got to kiss an angel good morning"

Dion Pride cowrote a song on Charley's 2010 album Choices titled "I Miss My Home".