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Percy Sledge

Synonymous With Soul, Percy Sledge Transcended The Muscle Shoals Sound

Percy Sledge never matched the height of his first hit, but Lauren Onkey frames it as less of a failure than an act of coming back down to size. Rick Diamond/Getty Images hide caption

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One-Hit Wonders / Second-Best Songs

Synonymous With Soul, Percy Sledge Transcended The Muscle Shoals Sound

For our series One-Hit Wonders/Second-Best Songs, NPR Music Senior Director Lauren Onkey recommends "Out of Left Field" by Percy Sledge. He's known mostly for his 1966 hit, "When a Man Loves a Woman."

Synonymous With Soul, Percy Sledge Transcended The Muscle Shoals Sound

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Percy Sledge Had A Voice The Whole World Heard

Percy Sledge performs in Montgomery, Ala., in 2010. Rick Diamond/Getty Images hide caption

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Rick Diamond/Getty Images

The Record

Percy Sledge Had A Voice The Whole World Heard

Best known for 1966's iconic hit "When A Man Loves A Woman," the Alabama singer found success blending R&B with a hint of country. Sledge died Tuesday at 74.

Percy Sledge Had A Voice The Whole World Heard

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When A Rock Historian Loves Soul Singer Percy Sledge

Percy Sledge Atlantic Records hide caption

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Atlantic Records

Review

Music Reviews

When A Rock Historian Loves Soul Singer Percy Sledge

Fresh Air

The master of country soul, Percy Sledge crooned some of the genre's greatest hits, like "When a Man Loves a Woman." Rock historian Ed Ward says a new box set featuring all of Sledge's Atlantic recordings is certainly worth a listen.

When A Rock Historian Loves Soul Singer Percy Sledge

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Music Interviews

Re-Creating the 60s Sound for Percy Sledge

Veteran soul singer Percy Sledge has a new album out, his first CD in a decade. NPR's Noah Adams talks with the album's producers, Barry Goldberg and Saul Davis, about re-creating the sound of the 1960s.

Re-Creating the 60s Sound for Percy Sledge

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