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Percy Sledge

PERCY SLEDGE

YEAR

2005

INDUCTED BY

Rod Stewart (Faces/Small Faces)

CATEGORY

Performers

The sorrowful, soulful voice behind the soul classic “When a Man Loves a Woman.”

Percy Sledge delivered soul with a conviction and emotion that still resonate today. His imploring, anguished ballads made him a Southern soul hero.

Percy Sledge

Percy Sledge

HALL OF FAME
ESSAY

By Tom Silverman

It was 1966. The year was best known for the release of the historic Pet Sounds album, but it also saw the first Number One hit for Simon and Garfunkel, with “Sounds of Silence”; the Monkees, with “Last Train to Clarksville”; and Tommy James and the Shondells, with “Hanky Panky.”

In fact, more than one third of that year’s Number One hits were by artists who had never before charted. One of these, “When a Man Loves a Woman,” would go on to become the most remembered rhythm & blues record of that year. Percy Sledge’s powerful voice, coupled with his Sunday-go-to-meeting innocence, rang true to millions of listeners worldwide.

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Class of 2005
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