Percy Sledge

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Percy Sledge (born November 25, 1940, in Leighton, Alabama) is a US-American R&B and soul performer.

Contents 1 Career 2 Selected discography 2.1 Singles 2.2 Compilation album 3 References 4 See also 5 External links

[edit] Career

Percy Sledge worked in the fields in Leighton before he worked as an orderly at Colbert County Hospital in Sheffield. By the mid-1960s, Sledge was touring the Southeast with the Esquires Combo on weekends and working at the hospital during the week. A former patient who was a friend of record producer Quin Ivy introduced the two, an audition followed, and Sledge was signed to a recording contract.

Sledge's smooth voice was perfect for the series of soul ballads produced by Ivy and Marlin Greene, which rock critic Dave Marsh called "emotional classics for romantics of all ages."

"When a Man Loves a Woman" was the first song recorded under the contract (released in 1966), and it became not only an international hit (it reached #1 in the U.S.) but was also the first gold record released by Atlantic Records. The soul anthem became the cornerstone of Sledge's career, and was followed by "Warm and Tender Love" (Covered by UK songstress Elkie Brooks in 1981), "Take Time to Know Her", and "Cover Me".

Sledge charted with "I'll Be Your Everything" and "Sunshine" during the 1970s, and has become an international concert favorite throughout the world, especially in the Netherlands, Germany, and on the African continent.

His career enjoyed a renaissance in the 1980s when "When a Man Loves a Woman" re-entered the Top 10 in the UK Singles Chart after being used in a Levi's commercial.

Sledge was an inaugural Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award honoree in 1989. In 2005, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

[edit] Selected discography

[edit] Singles

• 1966 "When a Man Loves a Woman" - U.S. pop #1, U.S. R&B #1, UK #4
• 1966 "Warm and Tender Love" - U.S. pop #17, U.S. R&B #5, UK #34
• 1966 "It Tears Me Up" - U.S. pop #20, U.S. R&B #7
• 1967 "Love Me Tender" - U.S. pop #40
• 1968 "Take Time to Know Her" - U.S. pop #11, U.S. R&B #6
• 1987 "When a Man Loves a Woman" (re-issue) - UK #2

[edit] Compilation album

• 1987 When a Man Loves a Woman (The Ultimate Collection) - UK #36

[edit] References

• Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 19th Edition - ISBN 1-904994-10-5
• The Book of Golden Discs - 2nd Edition - ISBN 0-214-20512-6

[edit] See also

• Sledging (cricket), which in part got its name from Percy Sledge

[edit] External links

• Percy Sledge biography at the All music Guide website
• Percy Sledge bio at the Rhytmandtheblues website