Artist: Percy Sledge
Genre(s):
R&B: Soul
Other
Discography:
When a Man Loves a Woman
Year: 2002
Tracks: 20
I'll Be Your Everything
Year: 1999
Tracks: 12
Blue Night
Year: 1995
Tracks: 11
Ultimate Collection
Year:
Tracks: 20
Golden Legends: Percy Sledge
Year:
Tracks: 14
Percy Sledge will always be associated with "When a Man Loves a Woman," a pleading, soulful lay he sang with wrenching, convincing anguish and passion of Christ. Sledge panax quinquefolius all of his songs that way, delivering them in a powerful hurry where he cursorily changed from soulful belting to quavering, tearful pleas. It was a voice that made him unitary of the key figures of deep Southern soul during the recent '60s. Sledge recorded at Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama, where he oft sang songs written by Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn. Not only did he let the cat out of the bag deep psyche, but Sledge was among the pioneers of country-soul, telling songs by Charlie Rich and Kris Kristofferson in a gamey, passionate style. During the '70s, his commercial success quickly faded out, just Sledge continued to hitch and record into the '90s.
Piece he worked as a hospital nurse in the early '60s, Sledge began his professional medicine career as a fellow member of the Southern soul vocal mathematical group the Esquires Combo. On the advice of local disk jockey Quin Ivy, he went solo in 1966. Ivy fabricated himself a record producer and he in agreement to aid condition Sledge's song "When a Man Loves a Woman" into a full-fledged single, hiring Spooner Oldham to act a distinctive, smooth pipe organ musical phrase. Ivy released the unmarried severally and quickly commissioned it to Atlantic Records, world Health Organization quickly bought out Sledge's narrow. "When a Man Loves a Woman" became a huge hit in the summertime of 1966, topping both the pop and R&B charts. It was quick followed that year by deuce Top Ten R&B hits, "Warm and Tender Love" and "It Tears Me Up," which were both in the nervure of his outset hit. Although few of his subsequent singles were hits -- just "Take Time to Know Her" reached the R&B Top Ten in 1968 -- many of the songs, which were often written by Dan Penn and/or Oldham, were acknowledged as classics among somebody aficionados.
Disdain his strong reputation among deep soulfulness fans, Sledge's sales had declined considerably by the early '70s, and he headed stunned on the club tour in America and England. In 1974, he left Atlantic for Capricorn Records, where he astonishingly returned to the R&B Top 20 with "I'll Be Your Everything." Instead of re-igniting his career, the single was a terminal pant, as far as graph success was concerned. Over the side by side two decades he continued to spell, and in the late '80s, "When a Man Loves a Woman" experienced a resurgence in popularity, due to its comprehension in picture soundtracks and in television commercials. Following its appearance in a 1987 Levi commercial in the U.K., the unmarried was re-released and climbed to number deuce. Two years later, he won the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Career Achievement Award. Sledge was able to turn this revived popularity into a successful career by touring constantly, playing all over C shows a year into the '90s. In 1994, he released Blue Night, his number 1 compendium of young material in over a x, to uniformly positive reviews.
