Percy Sledge – When A Man Loves A Woman

“When a Man Loves a Woman” – Single by Percy Sledge from the album When a Man Loves a Woman
Released: March 1966
Recorded: February 17, 1966
Songwriters: Calvin Lewis, Andrew Wright

Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright were members of the Esquires, a band in Sheffield, Alabama fronted by singer Percy Sledge. According to Wright, “We were set to play a Friday night dance, and we were practicing … I was messing around on the organ when this riff came up out of nowhere. There was no one in the club but us. I told Calvin to go home and write some words.” The next night, they rehearsed the emerging song with Sledge, changed it around, and soon afterwards auditioned the song for local businessman and radio DJ Quin Ivy. He liked the song but suggested that some of the words be changed to give a more positive message. Wright said, “We kept some of the phrases, worked on it for several weeks, and spent quite a bit of time in the studio.”

This song is a huge part of music history, as it is the first #1 Hot 100 hit recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, where Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, The Rolling Stones and many other famous musicians would later record some of their classic songs. It’s a legendary love song and a huge hit, but the story of its writing and recording is quite murky. Sledge, who died in 2015 at age 74, told very florid tales about coming up with the song, but Quin Ivy, who produced the track, has a much more pedestrian story.

A little background: FAME studios in Muscle Shoals was run by Rick Hall, and was picking up steam in the mid-’60s, with successful recordings by Jimmy Hughes, Joe Tex, The Tams and Joe Simon. Ivy was a songwriter there, and also a DJ at the local radio station WLAY. He set up his own record store/recording studio nearby called Norala Sound Studios to handle the overflow work, since so many artists wanted to record at FAME.

Sledge was an orderly at Colbert County (Alabama) Hospital in the daytime and sang with a local band, The Esquires Combo, at night. As Sledge tells it, one night while performing with The Esquires Combo, he was upset about a woman – a broken relationship – so upset that he couldn’t concentrate on the music he was supposed to sing. He was so overcome with emotion as the group started their set in a Sheffield, Alabama club, that he turned to his bass player Calvin Lewis and organ player Andrew Wright and asked them if they could play a slow blues backing – any key, their choice – to which he could sing. After a quick conference (one source indicated that the “conference” consisted of glances and shrugs), the band started to play and Sledge vented in song for about six minutes.

In Sledge’s story, Quin Ivy was at the show and approached the band about polishing the song and recording it. Sledge says he worked on the lyrics with Lewis and Wright, and recorded it at Norala Sound with Ivy producing.

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

Percy Sledge - When A Man Loves A Woman

Percy Sledge - When A Man Loves A Woman (Live)05:35

This is a very popular wedding song, and it was especially effective if Sledge showed up to sing it. That’s what happened when E Street Band guitarist Steven Van Zandt’s married Maureen Santora on December 31, 1982 at the Stone Pony in Asbury Park, New Jersey.

This was a big song at the time of the Vietnam War, and very popular with many American soldiers. It was featured in the 1987 war movie Platoon, which helped revive the song.

The backup singers on “When A Man Loves A Woman” were Jeanie Greene, Donna Thatcher, Mary Holliday and Susan Pilkington. Greene was the wife of Marlin Greene, who played guitar on the track. Thatcher, her good friend, later married Keith Godchaux, took the name Donna Jean Godchaux, and became a member of the Grateful Dead. Pilkington and Holliday were students at Auburn who were called in to the session.

Visits: 1