Percy Tyrone Sledge was born in 1940 in Leighton, Alabama, not too far from the Shoals area. He worked for a while in Leighton, taking jobs in agriculture, before moving to Sheffield to become an orderly at Colbert County Hospital.
He had started singing at school and was recommended to the Esquires by one of his teachers. He worked during the week and at weekends he sang with the Esquires. A friend introduced him to Quin Ivy, who gave him an audition and signed the band.
Ivy particularly liked one of the band’s songs, which Sledge had written with bassist Calvin Lewis and organist Andrew Wright. The song was called “Why Did You Leave Me”. Quin Ivy and Marlin Greene decided to strengthen the lyrics and soon came up with a re-worked version of the original, which now had a new title: “When a Man Loves a Woman”.
The Esquires had played on the session at first, but when the final recording was made, the band was made up of Spooner Oldham (organ), Roger Hawkins (drums), Junior Lowe (bass), Marlin Greene (lead guitar) and Don Srygley (rhythm guitar). The horn section was made up of three local musicians brought in by Ivy, Jack Peck, Billy Cofield and Don Pollard. Ivy and Greene were producing, and Jimmy Johnson was sound engineer.
Ivy was impressed with the final recording and played it to Rick Hall, who suggested that Jerry Wexler at Atlantic Records in New York should listen to it. Hall had promised Wexler that he would be alerted to any outstanding recordings in Muscle Shoals and now he kept that promise. He was confident that Wexler would be interested in marketing and distributing the song and he was not mistaken.
Wexler quickly offered Ivy $1000 and 8% of profits on the song. Ivy shared the percentage with Hall (1%) and Green (2%) and Sledge (3%). Hall received another 2% fee for “finding” the song from Wexler. For Ivy, the biggest gain was that Wexler agreed to promote and distribute more songs from Percy Sledge and other artists at Norala.
Percy Sledge in 1974
Photo: Gene Pugh (Wikimedia Commons)
There was just one small problem. Wexler wasn’t happy with the horn section’s contribution. He wanted a new version overdubbed, as he thought the original was out of tune. The master tape was sent to Memphis, where the Memphis Horns, Andrew Love and Wayne Jackson, augmented by Gene “Bowlegs” Miller, were called in and their version was added in place of the original. Given all that effort, it is a shame that the original tape was used by mistake instead of the Memphis Horns’ version when the engineers cut the disc! The better version emerged much later, on a Rhino CD.
Nevertheless, with Wexler’s backing and the national and international clout of Atlantic Records, Sledge’s single took off. It was Atlantic’s first gold single, topping the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart week-ending 28th May 1966 for two weeks and the Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles Chart for total of four weeks week-end 7th May 1966. It is interesting to note that Aretha Franklin had her first million-selling hit almost a year after Sledge, with “I Never Loved A Man (The Way I love You)”. Sledge’s song was also a hit in the UK, first in 1966, when it reached number four on the Official UK Pop Singles Chart on 18th May 1966, remaining on the chart for seventeen weeks, and then again in 1987, when it went to number two on the Official UK Pop Single Chart on the 14th February 1987 and spent 10 weeks on the chart, following its inclusion in a Levi jeans ad. The single also achieved silver certification according to the BPI for over 200,000 copies sold in the UK, on the 1st March 1987 and has since achieved gold certification.. Sledge’s voice was a perfect match for slow, emotional, Soul ballads, and Quin Ivy and Marlin Green now had the chance to build on that first big success for the little studio on 2nd Street. Wexler decided that the impact made by Sledge in the market, appealing to Black and White listeners, justified investing in an album.
Several songs had been recorded along with “When a Man Loves a Woman” and they were all included. The B-side was a Marlin Greene song “Love Me Like You Mean It”, and to that were added “You’re Pouring Water On a Drowning Man” and “You Fooled Me”, a Dan Penn song. Seven more songs were recorded later in the year, with Peanutt Montgomery’s “Love Me All The Way” one of the best. Altogether in 1966, Sledge released two albums and three singles, that established him as an international star. The two singles that followed that first hit song have also become iconic. “Warm and Tender Love” and “It Tears Me Up” both charted strongly. The single “Warm and Tender Love” became a Top 40 hit on the Official UK Pop Singles Chart going to number thirty-four on the 10th August 1966 and spending over seven weeks in the chart.
From 1965 to 1969, Sledge recorded regularly with Quin Ivy. Atlantic released sixteen of the tracks as singles, all of which entered the Hot 100. Another nine albums were issued alongside the singles, around half of which made chart entries. Only one of Sledge’s Atlantic albums charted in the UK, “When a Man Loves a Woman (The Ultimate Collection)”, in 1983.
Percy Sledge died in 2015 at his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He has been honoured by many music organisations, including the Alabama Music Hall of Fame (1993), the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (2005) and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame 2007). In 1996 his album “Blue Night” was named the best Soul/Blues album of the year.
