Percy Sledge - When a Man Loves a Woman | Soul Sunday

Опубликовано 2 ноября 2025, 15:01

*Percy Sledge* and his chartbusting heartfelt 1966 ballad “When a Man Loves a Woman” illustrate how a truly successful recording can have many lives across many generations. Sledge, who as a youth in the early 1950s dreamed of a career in professional baseball, instead toiled as a field hand, hospital orderly, and factory worker in and around Leighton, Alabama, his hometown. A country music fan fond of Jim Reeves, Hank Williams, and other artists in that cohort, he sang in church and in secular bands. As the vocalist of the Esquires Combo, he played the region’s mid-1960s college campus circuit. At the University of Mississippi in 1965 a producer heard an original by band members Cameron Lewis and Andrew Wright that Sledge, who the producer had signed as a solo act, had been tweaking. At a Sheffield, Alabama, studio the Esquires, collaborating with session aces from Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, finessed those revisions into “When a Man Loves a Woman.” In a burst of generosity Sledge ceded songwriting credit for the song to Lewis and Wright, a decision he later mourned. Atlantic Records licensed the tune and added him to its roster. “When a Man Loves a Woman” became the label’s first gold record, selling a million copies. Sledge charted again but never as big. He toured worldwide for many years. “When a Man” had a moment’s revival in the 80s when Levi Strauss licensed it for a jeans commercial. That appeal made the perennially radio-ready number a logical cinematic choice for the soundtracks of “The Big Chill,” "Platoon,” and “The Crying Game.” In 2005 Sledge was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2010 Rhino released a four-CD set of his material. Percy Sledge passed away in 2015, survived by his second wife and 12 children.—Michael Dolan. - Michael Dolan

*Percy Sledge - When a Man Loves a Woman*
Album: When a Man Loves a Woman
Released in 1966 on Atlantic

Written By: Andrew Wright, Calvin Lewis

_Performed By:_

Percy Sledge -- vocals
Spooner Oldham -- organ
Marlin Greene -- guitar
Albert ""Junior"" Lowe -- electric bass
Roger Hawkins -- drums
Jack Peck -- trumpet
Billy Cofield, Don ""Rim"" Pollard -- tenor sax
Jerry Eddleman, Jeanie Greene, Sandy Posey, and Hershel Wiggington -- background vocals

_Produced By:_ Marlin Greene, Quin Ivy

_Recorded at_ Norala Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama on February 17, 1966

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