Percy Sledge

A native of Leighton, Alabama, southern soul legend Percy Sledge worked in the farm fields before he was hired to work at Colbert County Hospital (now Keller Hospital Hospital) in nearby Sheffield. After hearing him audition, Quin Ivy signed Sledge to a recording contract. The first song Sledge recorded was “When a Man Loves a Woman,” which became the Muscle Shoals music industry’s first number one hit and the first gold record in the history of Atlantic Records. Sledge subsequently recorded a long string of Southern soul standards including Warm and Tender Love, Take Time To Know Her, It Tears Me Up and Cover Me.

In 1989 he was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Foundation’s Career Achievement Hall of Fame and four years later he was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.

Sledge continues to delight sold-out audiences in venues around the world with his soul-stirring performances and signature smile.

Source: Alabama Music Hall of Fame

For more information:
www.alamhof.org