- News & Reviews Feed
Percy Sledge
Dear Soul Trackers,
I really didn't think that I would have the opportunity to record another album but when Saul Davis and Barry Goldberg approached me nine years or so after our last project, "Blue Night," I just knew we would do it again. I knew it because the material and the attitude would be right.
As last time the songs were the first & most important part - I need a song I can sing from my heart. My Swedish friend Mikael Rickfors, who wrote the title song on my last album, had written three songs this time - I couldn't wait to hear them. Funny thing how this fellow from Sweden can relate to Percy Sledge but he does.
Then there's that beautiful unreleased Bee Gees song "A Lonely Violin" - wow! It was an honor to be the first person to cut that. They gave me an unreleased song last time too! I think they remember that I covered "I've Gotta Get A Message To You" in the 60s and they loved my version. I'm still a fan and so are they.
That Steve Earle country soul song heartbreaker "My Old Friend The Blues" is a tearjerker, I've always dug "Searching For My Love," Bobby Moore's old hit, and "Big Blue Diamonds"! Paul Jones from Manfred Mann flew all the way from London to sing that one with me.
Of course the musicians were the best, some cats from LA, some from Nashville, some from the Shoals and Memphis. Jakob Dylan, Bob's son, added a special feeling to Misty Morning - that tune is very, very deep.
I love my new album, what can I say?
And I love my fans, God bless.
Percy
Web Sites:
Percy's Official Site
Biography
Alabama born Deep Soul singer Percy Sledge had a relatively brief period of intense popularity in the late 60s, fueled in large part by his impassioned rendition of the now-classic ballad, "When a Man Loves a Woman." The plaintive song, about the lengths to which a man will go when he is enraptured by a lady, was perfect for Sledge's unusual, Southern Gospel voice, and it has become undoubtedly one of the all-time great Soul ballads, remade dozens of times by others, but with the magic of Sledge's original never being recaptured by any other artist.
A member of the Esquire Combos in the early 60s, Sledge went solo in 1965 and recorded "When A Man Loves A Woman" with producer Quin Ivy. The song led to a signing by Atlantic Records in 1966, and also began a short string of hits over the next couple of years, including "It Tears Me Up," "Warm and Tender Love" and "Take Time To Know Her," all of which reached the Soul Top 10. By 1970, Sledge's chart career had stalled, and he didn't record again for another four years, when he signed with Capricorn Records and released "I'll Be Your Everything," his last hit.
Sledge became a fixture on the oldies circuit for the next two decades before releasing the critically acclaimed Blue Night in 1994 with producers Saul Davis and Barry Goldberg. He then returned to his constant touring schedule, which continues to this day.
by Chris Rizik
