BATON ROUGE (CelebrityAccess) — Soul singer Percy Sledge, best known for his hit "When a Man Loves a Woman," died on Tuesday at the age of 74.
According to the Associated Press, Sledge died from natural causes while in hospice care near his home in Baton Rouge.
Sledge, whose 1966 debut single "When a Man Loves a Woman," hit #1 on the charts and propelled him from a part time singer to an overnight sensation. The hit also helped to bring the Muscle Shoals music scene, where artists such as Aretha Franklin and The Rolling Stones would late record, to the forefront.
While Sledge found some chart success with other hits, including "Warm and Tender Love" (1966) and "Take Time to Know Her" (1968) he was never quite able to capture the same lightning in a bottle as he did with "When A Man Loves a Woman."
Sledge toured extensively, often playing more than 100 shows a year and resumed life on the road even after enduring surgery to treat liver cancer in 2014.
Sledge was an inaugural Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award honoree in 1989, a member of the 2005 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class, and a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. – Staff Writers
