'When a Man Loves a Woman' Singer, Dead at 74: 8 Best Songs of Soul Songster

• comments
• 
• 

Percy Sledge, singer of soulful single When a Man Loves a Woman, died Tuesday in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was 74 years old.

The famed R&B singer's family released a statement through his manager, Mark Lyman. The singer died "peacefully" at his home in Louisiana with liver failure as the cause of death brought about by his struggle with cancer, according to ABC News.

"He was one of my first acts, he was a terrific person and you don't find that in this business very often," according to Steve Green from Artists International Management Inc, a talent agency. "He was truly a standout." According to BBC, Sledge underwent surgery in January 2014 for liver cancer but still continued touring.

When a Man Loves a Woman was Sledge's debut single and it became a number one hit in 1966. In Sledge's documentary, Muscle Shoals in 2013, he shared his first recording experience of the song in the interview.

"When I came into the studio, I was shaking like a leaf. I was scared," he said, adding that it was the "same melody that I sang when I was out in the fields. I just wailed out in the woods and let the echo come back to me".

Sledge also had other hits aside from his lasting legacy. His music is best remembered through his songs such as:

1.) Warm and Tender Love

2.) It Tears Me Up

3.) Dark End of the Street

4.) Cover Me

5.) Take Time to Know Her

6.) It's All Wrong But It's Alright

7.) I'll Be Your Everything

8.) Out of Left Field

Singer Michael Bolton paid tribute to the soulful balladeer through a tweet, ABC News reports.

"An inspiration as an artist & one of the most gracious human beings. We sang together. Forever grateful! Love MB," Bolton tweeted after he learned the news of Sledge's death. Sledge's most famous song was covered by Bolton in 1991 where it once again topped the Billboard chart.

Before Sledge came to fame with soulful singing, he worked in the cotton fields in his hometown in Leighton, Alabama. He then took a job as an orderly in the 1960s. It was then when a patient heard him singing while working at the hospital that he was recommended to record a song with Quin Ivy, a producer, notes the BBC.

In 1989, Sledge acquired the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Career Achievement Award. In 2005, he was given a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He was also a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.