When a Man Loves a Woman

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Written by: Calvin Lewis, Andrew Wright
Produced by: Marlin Greene, Quin Ivy
Released: March '66 on Atlantic
Charts: 13 weeks
Top spot: No. 1

In the mid-sixties, Sledge was touring the South with an R&B combo called the Esquires and working as a hospital orderly when Alabama producer Ivy heard him belt out an intense, pleading ballad at the local Elks Club. Ivy had the lyrics rewritten, and Sledge quit the Esquires to cut his first solo side: "When a Man Loves a Woman." When the master found its way to Atlantic, Jerry Wexler told partner Ahmet Ertegun, "Our billing for the summer is in the bag."

Appears on: It Tears Me Up: The Best of Percy Sledge (Rhino)

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