Percy Sledge

Percy Sledge's name remains inextricably linked to "When a Man Loves a Woman," the anguished, soul-drenched ballad he rendered with raw conviction and emotional intensity. Every performance he delivered carried that same force, shifting abruptly from full-throated soul shouting to fragile, sobbing entreaties. That distinctive approach established him as a central voice in deep Southern soul. He cut his records at the Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama, often interpreting material composed by Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn. Beyond deep soul, Sledge helped originate the country-soul hybrid, bringing gritty fervor to numbers by Charlie Rich and Kris Kristofferson. Although his mainstream fortunes waned during the '70s, he kept performing live and releasing music through the '90s.

While employed as a hospital nurse in the early '60s, Sledge launched his professional singing career inside the Southern soul vocal ensemble the Esquires Combo. Encouraged by local disc jockey Quin Ivy, he stepped out as a solo act in 1966. Ivy, who harbored production ambitions, refined Sledge's composition "When a Man Loves a Woman" into a polished single and recruited Spooner Oldham to supply its signature sustained organ line. The track appeared first on an independent label before Atlantic Records swiftly acquired the masters and signed Sledge outright. The single dominated both the pop and R&B charts in the summer of 1966. Two additional Top Ten R&B singles arrived that same year, "Warm and Tender Love" and "It Tears Me Up," both echoing the style of his breakthrough. Subsequent releases rarely matched that commercial peak, yet "Take Time to Know Her" still reached the R&B Top Ten in 1968, and many tracks—frequently penned by Dan Penn, Oldham, or both—earned classic status among committed soul collectors.

Even as deep-soul devotees continued to revere him, Sledge's record sales slipped sharply by the early '70s, prompting steady club work across America and England. He exited Atlantic in 1974 for Capricorn Records and briefly returned to the R&B Top 20 with "I'll Be Your Everything." That single proved his final brush with chart success. Over the following twenty years he maintained an active touring schedule; by the late '80s "When a Man Loves a Woman" regained traction through placements in film soundtracks and television advertisements. After featuring in a 1987 Levi's commercial in the U.K., the track was reissued and rose to number two. In 1989 the Rhythm and Blues Foundation honored him with its Career Achievement Award. Capitalizing on the renewed attention, Sledge toured relentlessly, often logging more than 100 concerts annually into the '90s. He issued Blue Night in 1994, his first album of fresh songs in over a decade, which earned widespread critical acclaim. Shining Through the Rain followed in 2004. The next year brought his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Percy Sledge passed away in April 2015 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at the age of 73.