Who originally sang when a man loves a woman

The great Percy Sledge record “When a Man Loves a Woman” was released 49 years ago on Thursday. Credited to songwriters Andrew Wright and Calvin Lewis, it was recorded at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Ala., and featured some of the era’s great R&B instrumentalists.

It was the only song the two ever wrote together, though Sledge long insisted he played a crucial role in its creation. Credit issues aside, the voice of Percy Sledge, who died Tuesday, owned the song, and made it one of the most resonant ballads of the past half century.

Released on April 16, 1966, the song hit No. 1 and nearly 50 years later its emotion is just as powerful. A baby boomer classic, “When a Man Loves a Woman” was further embedded in American culture through its use in the 1983 film “The Big Chill.” The recording also opens the film “The Crying Game,” and is the title of an Al Franken co-penned romantic comedy.

A ballad about a devotion bordering on obsession, the song features Sledge embodying a soul who’s desperate, lost and so bent pleasing his woman that he’s willing to turn his back on his friends, spend all his money on her, “give up all his comforts and sleep out in the rain.” As he sings, Sledge phrases the lines with both passion and futility, embodying those emotions with every syllable. It was Sledge’s biggest hit, and the song for which he will be remembered.

“When a Man Loves a Woman” was written in early 1966, Wright recalled to American Songwriter magazine in 1994. “We were set to play a Friday night dance, and we were practicing,” said Wright. “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.” He did, and over the next few weeks the song evolved after an Alabama radio DJ, Quin Ivy, suggested a few tweaks.

“He called me and said, ‘Do you mind if we change some of the lyrics,’” Lewis told American Songwriter in the same interview. “He wanted to diminish the negative … make it more of a love story in the bridge … and call it ‘When A Man Loves A Woman.’”

Sledge put himself at the center of the creation story during an AOL/Spinner interview in 2010. “When I wrote the song at first, it was called ‘Why Did You Leave Me Baby.’ And I changed it from that to ‘When a Man Loves a Woman.’ I just reversed it. Quin told me that if I was to write some lyrics around that melody and the expression I’d put into ‘Why Did You Leave Me Baby,’ he believed it would’ve been a hit record.

“He was one of the top disc jockeys at that time. Sure enough, he asked me if I had any lyrics for that. He said, “That’s it! Write a story around that title! What a song that would be with that feeling you had!’ It was a song that was meant to be. It wasn’t just what I had done; it was the musicians, the producer, the background singers, the right time,” Sledge continued. Despite his ownership claim, however, Wright and Lewis are credited as sole writers of the song.

Sledge was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. In his acceptance speech, he recalled the first time he realized he had a voice. Sledge said he was “10 years old, singing my songs in the fields, picking, chopping cotton, and my boss man tells me one day, ‘Perc, that voice that your using right now coming out of your throat, the whole world is going to hear one day.’”

Little did the boss man know how right he was.

Follow Randall Roberts on Twitter: @liledit

Categories: MUSICStories

Percy Sledge’s song “When a Man Loves a Woman had a completely different title and meaning when it started. Sledge recalled in 2010: “When I wrote the song at first, it was called ‘Why Did You Leave Me Baby.’ And I changed it from that to ‘When a Man Loves a Woman.’ I just reversed it. Quin told me that if I was to write some lyrics around that melody and the expression I’d put into ‘Why Did You Leave Me Baby,’ he believed it would’ve been a hit record. He was one of the top disc jockeys at that time. Sure enough, he asked me if I had any lyrics for that. He said, “That’s it! Write a story around that title! What a song that would be with that feeling you had!” It was a song that was meant to be. It wasn’t just what I had done; it was the musicians, the producer, the background singers, the right time.”

Percy Sledge says that when he originally sang this, he had in mind Lizz King, his girlfriend of three years who left him for a modeling job in Los Angeles. Said Sledge: “I didn’t have any money to go after her, so there was nothing I could do to try and get her back.”

(sourced from songfacts.com)

When a man loves a woman, Can’t keep his mind on nothin’ else, He’d change the world for the good thing he’s found. If she is bad, he can’t see it, She can do no wrong, Turn his back on his best friend if he put her down. When a man loves a woman, He’ll spend his very last dime Tryin’ to hold on to what he needs. He’d give up all his comforts And sleep out in the rain, If she said that’s the way It ought to be. Well, this man loves you, woman. I gave you everything I have, Tryin’ to hold on to your heartless love. Baby, please don’t treat me bad. When a man loves a woman, Down deep in his soul, She can bring him such misery. If she is playin’ him for a fool, He’s the last one to know. Lovin’ eyes can never see. When a man loves a woman He can do her no wrong, He can never want Some other girl. Yes,When a man loves a woman I know exactly how he feels, ‘Cause baby, baby, you’re my world

When a man loves a woman….

lyrics by azlyrics.com

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Other release Comments Nr. 1 US Licensing Request a synchronization license

Title	Performer	Release date	Info
When a Man Loves a Woman	Percy Sledge	March 1966	First recording on February 17, 1966 First release
When a Man Loves a Woman	Joe Simon	March 1966
When a Man Loves a Woman	Leroy Jones [US2] (Herbert Hunter)	April 1966
When a Woman Loves a Man	Esther Phillips	May 1966
When a Man Loves a Woman	The Spencer Davis Group	September 1966
When a Man Loves a Woman	James Brown at the Organ	October 1966
When a Man Loves a Woman	The Elgins	October 1966
When a Woman Loves a Man	Jane Morgan	1966
When a Man Loves a Woman	We Five [GR]	1966
When a Man Loves a Woman	Thee Midniters	1966
When a Woman Loves a Man	Ketty Lester	1966
When a Man Loves a Woman	The Capitols	1966
When a Man Loves a Woman	Loulou Gordon e i Storks	1966
When a Man Loves a Woman	Ripple Blast Singers	1966
When a Man Loves a Woman	Mae West	1966
When a Man Loves a Woman	Johnny Rivers	September 1967	Live
When a Woman Loves a Man (When a Man Loves a Woman)	Jerry Butler	December 1967
When a Man Loves a Woman	Die Firestone-Band	1967
When a Man Loves a Woman	Z.Z. Hill	1967
When a Man Loves a Woman	The Love Depression	May 1968
When a Man Loves a Woman	D'Swooners	November 1968
When a Man Loves a Woman	Mystics [HK]	1968
When a Man Loves a Woman	Mercia Love	1968
When a Man Loves a Woman	Isabel Bond	1968
When a Man Loves a Woman	Maxine Brown	1968
When a Man Loves a Woman	Lou Rawls	June 1969
When a Man Loves a Woman	Darrell Banks	1969
When a Man Loves a Woman	Pacific Gas and Electric	June 1970
When a Man Loves a Woman	Neville Whitmill	1970
When a Man Loves a Woman	The Now Generation [US]	1970
When a Man Loves a Woman	Glenn Walker & The Nashville Country Singers	1970
When a Man Loves a Woman	Karen Dalton	1971
When a Man Loves a Woman	Laura Lee	June 1972
When a Man Loves a Woman	Reuben Howell	April 1973
When a Man Loves a Woman	Jerry Lee Lewis	October 31, 1973
When a Man Loves a Woman	Rita Hovink	October 1973
When a Woman Loves a Man	Jane Harvey, John Bunch, Billy Goodwin, Don Elliot, Bucky Pizzarelli, Doc Cheatham, Richard Davis	1974
When a Man Loves a Woman	New Jordal Swingers	1974
When a Man Loves a Woman	Tommy McLain	1975
When a Man Loves a Woman	Roger Troy	1976
God Blessed Our Love - When a Man Loves a Woman - That's How Strong My Love Is	O.V. Wright	June 1977	Medley
When a Man Loves a Woman	Harry Hippy	1977
When a Man Loves a Woman	John Wesley Ryles	1977
When a Man Loves a Woman	James & Bobby Purify	1977
When a Man Loves a Woman	Alexander [SE]	1977
When a Man Loves a Woman	Dobie Gray	1977
When a Man Loves a Woman	Phil Manning (Phil Manning)	1977	Unverified
When a Man Loves a Woman	Rare Earth	1978
When a Man Loves a Woman	Second Life	1978
When a Man Loves a Woman	Burton Cummings	1978
When a Man Loves a Woman	Leon Russell	1978
When a Man Loves a Woman	Bette Midler	1979	Live
When a Man Loves a Woman	Masaki Ueda	1979
When a Man Loves a Woman	United Singers	1980
When a Man Loves a Woman	Dean Conn	1980
When a Man Loves a Woman	Arlen Roth	1980
When a Man Loves a Woman	Natalie Cole	July 18, 1981
When a Man Loves a Woman	Jack Grayson and Blackjack	1981
When a Man Loves a Woman	Justine Johns	1983
When a Man Loves a Woman	Silver Condor	1983
When a Man Loves a Woman	Demis Roussos	1984
When a Man Loves a Woman	Solomon Burke	1986
When a Man Loves a Woman	Johnny "C"	1986
When a Man Loves a Woman	Mikael Rickfors	1986
When a Man Loves a Woman	Roly Daniels	1987
When a Man Loves a Woman	Freddie Roy	1987
When a Man Loves a Woman	Art Garfunkel	1988
When a Man Loves a Woman	Jimmy Barnes	1988
When a Man Loves a Woman	Wentus Blues Band	1989
When a Man Loves a Woman	John Berry	1990
When a Man Loves a Woman	Just 4 Fun	1990
When a Man Loves a Woman	Loa Falkman	1990
When a Man Loves a Woman	Michael Bolton	April 23, 1991
When a Man Loves a Woman	Barbara Mandrell	September 24, 1991
When a Man Loves a Woman	Ronnie McDowell	January 1992
When a Man Loves a Woman	Karin Bloemen	1994
When a Man Loves a Woman	Flash Cadillac	1994
When a Man Loves a Woman	The Dakotas	1995
When a Man Loves a Woman	Andy Timmons - Pawn Kings	1995
When a Man Loves a Woman	Kenny Rogers	1996
When a Man Loves a Woman	Bernard Purdie	1996
When a Man Loves a Woman	John Cowan	1997
When a Man Loves a Woman	Finn Nørbygård	1997
When a Man Loves a Woman	The BB Band	1999
When a Man Loves a Woman	Flemming Bamse Jørgensen	1999
When a Man Loves a Woman	Rita Ellis Hammer	1999
When a Man Loves a Woman	Ivan Pedersen + Singers & RadioUnderholdningsOrkestret	1999
When a Man Loves a Woman	Gregorian	1999
When a Man Loves a Woman	Shirley Brown	September 26, 2000
When a Man Loves a Woman	Lee Towers	October 2000
When a Man Loves a Woman	E.G. Kight	April 1, 2002
When a Man Loves a Woman	David Bisbal	2002	Version from TV talent show
When a Man Loves a Woman	The Flames [DK]	2002	Released more than 10 years after its recording
When a Man Loves a Woman	Helmut Lotti	September 22, 2003
When a Man Loves a Woman	Jan Nielsen	2003
When a Man Loves a Woman	Kashief Lindo	2004
When a Man Loves a Woman	Cotton Club Singers	2004
When a Man Loves a Woman	Andy Abraham	March 13, 2006
When a Man Loves a Woman	Aaron Neville	September 19, 2006
When a Man Loves a Woman	Tino Tomas	2006
When a Man Loves a Woman	Rúzsa Magdolna	2006
When a Man Loves a Woman	Avid All Stars	August 7, 2007
When a Man Loves a Woman	Renée Geyer	September 29, 2007
When a Man Loves a Woman	Alexander O'Neal	February 4, 2008
When a Man Loves a Woman	The MacDonald Bros	February 2008
When a Man Loves a Woman	Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr.	October 14, 2008
When a Man Loves a Woman	The Studio Sound Ensemble	December 2, 2008
When a Man Loves a Woman	Tahta Menezes	November 11, 2009
When a Man Loves a Woman	The Rounder Girls	August 26, 2010
When a Man Loves a Woman	The Tribute Co.	September 14, 2010
When a Man Loves a Woman	David Clayton-Thomas	October 5, 2010
When a Man Loves a Woman	The Soldiers	October 25, 2010
When a Man Loves a Woman	Alessandro Casillo	November 17, 2010
When a Man Loves a Woman	BJ Blue with Brittany Allyn	2010
When a Man Loves a Woman / It's a Man's Man's Man's World	Michael Bolton / Seal	March 1, 2011	Live Medley
When a Man Loves a Woman	Stefano Langone	April 6, 2011
When a Man Loves a Woman	Tim Halperin	September 27, 2011
When a Man Loves a Woman	Joshua Ledet	March 15, 2012
When a Man Loves a Woman	Patrick Adams (Open Records Studio Artists)	July 20, 2012
When a Man Loves a Woman	Trevin Hunte	November 12, 2012
When a Man Loves a Woman	Matthew Schuler	December 2, 2013	Version from TV talent show
When a Man Loves a Woman	The LaRaDos	December 31, 2013
When a Man Loves a Woman	Leslie West	2013
When a Man Loves a Woman	The Contours	June 30, 2014	Released more than 10 years after its recording
When a Man Loves a Woman	David Clooney	August 8, 2014
When a Man Loves a Woman	Renee de Ruijter	August 30, 2014	Version from TV talent show
When a Man Loves a Woman	Odd René Andersen	2014
When a Man Loves a Woman	Hugh Maynard	March 2, 2015
When a Man Loves a Woman	Meghan Linsey	May 19, 2015	Version from TV talent show
When a Man Loves a Woman	Ms Murphy	August 28, 2015	Live
When a Man Loves a Woman	Andy Fairweather Low and The Low Riders	2015
When a Man Loves a Woman	Hurricane Ruth	2015
When a Man Loves a Woman	Hannah Huston	May 24, 2016	Version from TV talent show
When a Man Loves a Woman	Jillian Edwards	November 18, 2016
When a Man Loves a Woman	Chris Blue	May 23, 2017	Version from TV talent show
When a Man Loves a Woman	Straight No Chaser	November 2, 2018	A cappella
When a Man Loves a Woman	J. R. Richards	November 10, 2018
When a Man Loves a Woman	Rod Stokes	May 6, 2019	Version from TV talent show
When a Man Loves a Woman	Home Free	February 12, 2021	A cappella
When a Man Loves a Woman	Michael Stephenson & The Alexander Claffy Trio	September 10, 2021

	Title	Performer	Release date	Info
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Bud Shank, Orchestra arranged and conducted by Oliver Nelson	August 1966
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Floyd Cramer	August 1966
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Billy Larkin & The Delegates	August 1966
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	John Schroeder and Orchestra	November 1966
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	The Soulful Strings	1966
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Harold Betters	1966
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Raymond Lefèvre et son grand orchestre	1966	Unverified
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Willie Mitchell	February 1967
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Wes Montgomery	September 1967
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	King Curtis & The Kingpins	November 1967
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Eddie Harris	1967
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	The Total Eclipse	1967
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Ace Cannon	1967
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Shirley Scott	1968
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Le grand orchestre de Paul Mauriat	1968
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Will Horwell	1968
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Pat Riccio	1968
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	The Louis Van Dyke Trio	1968
i	Good to Me - When a Man Loves a Woman	Paul Nero Sounds	1968
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Yusef Lateef	November 1970
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	The Baker St. Philharmonic	1970
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	StereoAction Orchestra	1971
i	Profile (Medley of the Following Songs): When A Man Loves A Woman / I Never Loved A Man / Kentucky …	Spooner Oldham	1972
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Takashi Mizuhashi Quartet ‎	1974
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Pete Tex	1975
i	When a Man Loves a Woman / Tu t'en vas	Orchester Anthony Ventura	1976
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Richard Clayderman	1980
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	The Gino Marinello Orchestra	1982
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Blonker	1983
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Hank Crawford	1984
i	When a Man Loves a Woman - Oleo	Yoshiaki Miyanoue	1985
i	When A Man Loves A Woman	Richard Elliot	1989	Unverified
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Alan Baker	1991
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Louis van Dijk & The London Studio Orchestra	1993
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	James Galway	September 13, 1994
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	James Last & Richard Clayderman	1994
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Paul Brooks	1996
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Blowing Free	1996
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Grant Green Jr.	1998
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Danny Wright	March 9, 1999
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Jack Jezzro & Sam Levine	2000
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Milton Guedes	2000
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Bennie Wallace	March 26, 2002
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Yoshiaki Miyanoue, Mamoru Inagaki ‎	June 2003	Live
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Akiko Tsuruga	May 19, 2004
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Yvonne de Paris	June 2007
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Cyril Courbay, The Dreamsound Orchestra	August 5, 2008
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Sam Levine	August 2008
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	United Guitar Players	August 2011
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Jean Le Fort	March 7, 2013
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Ralf Willing & His Multisound-Orchestra	August 1, 2013
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Manu Dibango	October 21, 2013
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	The Steve Wingfield Band	2013
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Pindakaas Saxophone Quartet	2014
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Russell Malone	March 2016
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	Uriel	August 1, 2018
i	When a Man Loves a Woman	The Cat and Owl	April 17, 2020