Percy Sledge
PERCY SLEDGE
One of the most recognizable voices in the “country-soul” genre pioneered by fellow Shoals-area musician Arthur Alexander, Percy Sledge (1940-2015) began his singing career as a member of gospel quartet the Singing Clouds, which also featured his cousin Jimmy Hughes. By the early 1960s, Sledge was playing secular music at local fraternity parties as front man of the popular Esquires Combo. In late 1965, Norala Sound Studio owner Quin Ivy heard Sledge performing with the group at the Elks Club in Sheffield, and arranged to produce a record with the singer.
Backed by members of the FAME Studios rhythm section, including Spooner Oldham (keyboards) and Junior Lowe (bass), Sledge recorded “When a Man Loves a Woman” at Norala on February 17, 1966. Released two months later, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became Atlantic Records’ very first gold single.
While Sledge never managed to replicate the success of his debut, he continued to live and record in the Shoals. In 1993, he received the Alabama Music Hall of Fame’s Lifetime Award for Performing Achievement, and in 2005, Sledge was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Sources:
Peter Guralnick, Sweet Soul Music: Rhythm and Blues and the Southern Dream of Freedom (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2015).