Percy Sledge, who soared from part-time singer and hospital orderly to lasting fame with his aching, forlorn performance on the classic When a Man Loves a Woman, died yesterday aged 74.
Sledge died of natural causes in hospice care in Louisiana, according to Dr William "Beau" Clark, coroner for East Baton Rouge Parish.
A No 1 hit in 1966, When a Man Loves a Woman was Sledge's debut single, an almost unbearably heartfelt ballad with a resonance he never approached again.
Its mood set by a mournful organ and dirge-like tempo, When a Man Loves a Woman was for many the definitive soul ballad, a testament of blinding, all-consuming love haunted by fear and graced by overwhelming emotion.
When a Man Loves a Woman was a personal triumph for Sledge, who seemed on the verge of sobbing throughout the production, and a breakthrough for Southern soul.
It was the first No 1 hit from Alabama's burgeoning Muscle Shoals music scene, where Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones among others would record, and the first gold record for Atlantic Records.