Percy Sledge, who soared from part-time singer and hospital ward assistant to lasting fame with his aching performance on the classic When a Man Loves a Woman, has died in Louisiana aged 74.
Sledge died of natural causes in hospice care on Tuesday morning, according to Dr William Clark, coroner for East Baton Rouge Parish.
A No. 1 hit in 1966, When a Man Loves a Woman was Sledge's debut single, an almost unbearably heartfelt ballad with a resonance he never approached again.
Few singers could have. Its mood set by a mournful organ and dirge-like tempo, When a Man Loves a Woman was for many the definitive soul ballad, a testament of blinding, all-consuming love haunted by fear and graced by overwhelming emotion.
When a Man Loves a Woman was a personal triumph for Sledge, who seemed on the verge of sobbing throughout the production, and a breakthrough for Southern soul.
It was the first No. 1 hit from Alabama's burgeoning Muscle Shoals music scene, where Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones among others would record, and the first gold record for Atlantic Records.
Sledge's hit became a standard that sustained his long touring career in the US, Europe and South Africa, when he averaged 100 performances a year, and led to his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005.
It was a favourite at weddings - Sledge himself did the honours at a ceremony for musician and actor Steve Van Zandt - and often turned up in movies, including a 1994 Meg Ryan drama named for the song's title.
Recognisable by his wide, gap-toothed smile, Sledge had a handful of other hits between 1966 and 1968, including Warm and Tender Love, It Tears Me Up, Out of Left Field and Take Time to Know Her. He returned to the charts in 1974 with I'll Be Your Everything.
Before he became famous, Sledge worked in the cotton fields in Alabama and took a job in a hospital. He also spent weekends playing with a rhythm-and-blues band called the Esquires. A patient at the hospital heard him singing while working and recommended him to record producer Quin Ivy.
The composition of his infamous hit has long been a mystery. Sledge said he was inspired by a girlfriend who left him for a modelling career after he was laid off from a construction job in 1965.
However he gave the song-writing credits to two Esquires bandmates, bassist Calvin Lewis and organist Andrew Wright, who helped him with the song.
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