When a Man Loves a Woman (song)

Infobox Single
Name = When a Man Loves a Woman
Artist = Percy Sledge
from Album = The Best of Percy Sledge
Released = Spring 1966
Format = 12" vinyl
Recorded = February 17, 1966 Sheffield,AL
Genre = R&B, Soul
Length = 2:51
Label = Atlantic
Producer = Marlin Greene, Quin Ivy
Writer = Calvin Lewis, Andrew Wright
Certification = Gold (RIAA)
Chart position = #1 (US)
Last single = "Warm And Tender Love"
(1966)
This single = "When a Man Loves a Woman"
(1966)
Next single = "Baby, Help Me"
(1967)

"When a Man Loves a Woman" is a song recorded by Percy Sledge in 1966 near Muscle Shoals, Alabama in Sheffield. It made number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B singles charts. It was listed 54th in the List of "Rolling Stone magazine's" 500 greatest songs of all time. The sidemen for this recording included Spooner Oldham, organ; Marlin Greene, guitar; Albert "Junior" Lowe, bass and Roger Hawkins, drums. The song is credited to Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright, who played bass and keyboards with Sledge. However, the song is in fact written by Percy Sledge himself, but he gave it to Lewis and Wright. (Sledge said this in an interview in the program series "The Sixties" on Swedish Televison in 2008.)

It was later remade by Michael Bolton in 1991, whose version also reached number one on the U.S. pop and adult contemporary singles charts (Bolton also received a Grammy Award for this song). Sledge's version was also a top ten hit in the UK peaking at number four on its initial release and peaking at number two in 1987 after it was featured in a Levi's Jeans commercial. The song makes use of a commonly used descending bass line chord progression as in Bach's "Air on a G String".

Other noteworthy versions of the song, besides Michael Bolton's, include renditions by Bette Midler (US #35, 1980, from her movie "The Rose"), Esther Phillips (US #73, 1966, in a reverse-gender version, "When A Woman Loves A Man"), and Canadian singer Luba. Also notable are versions recorded by country singer Kenny Rogers in 1997 on his multi-million selling album "Always and Forever" and a version by Spencer Davis Group featuring Steve Winwood on "Autumn 66". A version by Jerry Lee Lewis appears on his "The Hits" album. Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes released a live version as a single from his 1988 album "Barnestorming" that was a #3 hit in Australia.

The song was also used at the start of the critically-acclaimed 1992 film "The Crying Game".

The song was used in the video game Karaoke Revolution.

External Link

* [http://www.thestandardreport.com/archives/entertainmnet/fall04/sledge.html Percy Sledge article on The Standard Report]