Arts > Music > Soul > USA > Percy Sledge   1941-2015

A print advertisement

for one of Sledge’s 1968 hit Take Time to Know Her

Photograph:

Granamour Weems Collection /Alamy

Percy Sledge: a life in pictures

From his early hit When A Man Loves A Woman,

to his induction in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame,

we take a look at the musical life of Percy Sledge,

who has died aged 73

G

Tuesday 14 April 2015    18.13 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2015/
apr/14/percy-sledge-a-life-in-pictures

Percy Sledge    1941-2015

Percy Sledge

(...)

soared

from part-time singer

and hospital orderly

to lasting fame

with his aching,

forlorn performance

on the classic

"When a Man

Loves a Woman"

(...)

A No. 1 hit in 1966,

"When a Man Loves a Woman"

was Sledge's debut single,

an almost unbearably

heartfelt ballad with a resonance

he never approached again.

Few singers could have.

Its mood set

by a mournful organ

and dirge-like tempo,

"When a Man Loves a Woman"

was for many

the definitive soul ballad,

a testament of blinding,

all-consuming love

haunted by fear and graced

by overwhelming emotion.

"When a Man Loves a Woman"

was a personal triumph

for Sledge, who seemed

on the verge of sobbing

throughout the production,

and a breakthrough

for Southern soul.

It was the first No. 1 hit

from Alabama's

burgeoning Muscle Shoals

music scene,

where Aretha Franklin

and the Rolling Stones

among others would record,

and the first gold record

for Atlantic Records.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/04/14/us/ap-us-obit-percy-sledge.html

http://www.npr.org/artists/15406033/percy-sledge

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2015/04/14/us/
ap-us-obit-percy-sledge.html

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/apr/14/
soul-singer-percy-sledge-dies-aged-73

http://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2015/04/14/
399596752/percy-sledge-had-a-voice-the-whole-world-heard

http://www.theguardian.com/music/gallery/2015/apr/14/
percy-sledge-a-life-in-pictures

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/16/
134172710/when-a-rock-historian-loves-soul-singer-percy-sledge

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbWDkg4T3G4

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