Percy Sledge-A Tribute to Greatness
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Where were you the first time you really heard “When A Man Loves A Woman,” not just as a tune trilling out of the radio as you drove down the street, but where the music came through with that unique power? You listened to the words and the emotion and the soul of Percy Sledge as he virtually cried and poured his heart into the song.
It is one of those heart stopping, gripping songs that one can actually feel the raw emotion in when listened to, especially if one is with the right person. I have known drunks to bawl their eyes out thinking about a love they lost and lovers holding each other tight for fear of losing each other. There are a few other songs, though not many, that evoke similar responses from people and probably will for many years to come.
The song itself was written and recorded by a country artist named Percy Sledge from Butler, Alabama which is not necessarily known for its musical greats. Sledge was working as a hospital orderly before he decided to take a trip to what was to become a recording Mecca for musical greats in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. It was an just an instant in time in 1966 and now, almost 50 years later, people still get lost in the song. It has been said that Sledge wrote the song about a woman he loved but for some reason could not have, though this was never confirmed by the artist.
Percy Sledge died Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at age 74. He was never a big time R & B star nor did he ever consider himself rich from a monetary standpoint. He was, as he liked to say, rich in many other ways. He often went back to Butler, Alabama to perform at the small club where he first started singing and when he did, as one might imagine, it was standing room only. This small town was proud of its most famous former resident.
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True Norman. Percy was a country boy but not a country artist. I have through his little home town and in the little club where he started. People who knew him talked about his humbleness and how he never thought of himself as a star. I still love that song.
Loved the music loved the voice. Another one bites the dust eh?