O’Donnell, who recorded a version of Crystal Chandeliers with the US singer, said his death at the weekend was a “very, very sad loss”.
The Grammy award winning star died on Saturday, aged 86, following Covid-19 related complications. He was one of the top international singing stars who regularly toured Northern Ireland during the Troubles years. “I loved Charley’s music from my earliest memory,” O’Donnell told BBC Radio Ulster’s ‘Good Morning Ulster’ programme. “I was lucky enough then to get to know him when I started singing myself.
He was a lovely man. ”The Donegal-born performer said Pride “loved Ireland” and “came religiously north and south”. He said: “We loved him in Ireland,”Charley Pride was born in Sledge, Mississippi in 1934,.