Soul Singer Percy Sledge Dies At 73

Percy Sledge had one hit song, “When a Man Loves a Woman.”

But what a hit it was for Sledge, who died Tuesday at his Baton Rouge home at the age of 73.

It soared to No. 1 on both the pop and R&B charts in 1966, and he rode it to a music career that lasted almost half a century.

It earned him induction into the Rock andRoll Hall of Fame in 2005 and one of the first Pioneer Awards from the Rhythm and Blue Foundation in 1989.

A powerful soul ballad of love and loss, “When a Man Loves A Woman” had the same timeless resonance as earlier love songs like “Always” or “Stardust.”

Sledge sold it with a soaring, pleading vocal straight out of the Southern churches where he sang as a child.

He followed “When a Man Loves a Woman” with several similar ballads, including “Warm and Tender Love” and the beautiful, aching “Take Time To Know Her.”

Those later songs cracked the R&B top 10, but it was “When a Man Loves A Woman” that enabled Sledge to quit his job as a hospital orderly and become a full-time singer on the R&B circuit.

Sledge always said he cowrote the song, but that he gave the credits to two members of his band, Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright.

Sledge said he was inspired to write it when his girlfriend left him, and he said the recording was an emotional experience that author Gerri Hirshey described as “the soul moment.”

It has been re-recorded by a number of artists, including Bette Midler. Michael Bolton’s version went to No.1 on the charts in 1991 and earned Bolton the Grammy that Sledge never won for it.

Three versions of the song have appeared on the country charts over the years and Rolling Stone listed it as No. 53 on its “top 500 songs of all time.”

Born in Leighton, Ala., Sledge worked in the fields and doing construction before taking the hospital job.

He sang nights and weekends with a group called the Esquires Combo before he was signed to a recording contract with Atlantic. “When a Man Loves a Woman” was his first release.

Most singers fall outof the business when they stop having radio hits, but despite some personal and vocal struggles, Sledge persisted. He drew on his enduring popularity in Europe to maintain his career, and when 1960s music had a revival starting in the mid-1980s, he became a familiar presence on revival shows.

“When A Man Loves A Woman” went to No. 2 on the British charts in 1987 after it was featured in a Levis commercial.

Part of Sledge’s success, he said, was that he always had great musicians. He often recorded with the famous Muscle Shoals, Ala., musicians, and there’s a picture of him at a mid-1960s Atlantic party where his backups include a young Jimi Hendrix.

He recorded several albums later in his career, the last a gospel album released in 2013.

Steve Green with Artists International Management, Inc., the talent agency that represented Sledge, told KATC.com, “He was a wonderful guy in a terrible business. He was truly a standout.”

Sledge is survived by his wife and children. Funeral arrangements are pending.

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