Percy Sledge, 74, soul balladeer of 'When a Man Loves a Woman'

Percy Sledge, 74, the Alabama-born soul balladeer whose emotional, pleading style propelled "When a Man Loves a Woman" to the top of the rhythm-and-blues and pop charts in 1966 and made the song one of the defining soul records of all time, died Tuesday at his home in Baton Rouge, La.

In early 2014, he began withdrawing from concerts after reportedly being diagnosed with liver cancer.

Mr. Sledge, a 2005 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, possessed one of the most distinctive tenor voices in the Southern soul genre. With the ability to shift from a powerful shout to a softer, beseeching quaver, he gave each song an anguished delivery that suggested the lyrics - no matter how trite or cliched - conveyed matters of life and death.

His successful recordings, mostly produced in Muscle Shoals, Ala., included "Take Time to Know Her," "Warm and Tender Love" and "It Tears Me Up." Mr. Sledge's style was influenced as much by country music as it was by gospel and rhythm and blues, and he sometimes covered songs popularized by country performers such as Charlie Rich and Charlie Pride.

Writing in 1969, the British music critic Charlie Gillett said that Mr. Sledge "takes other people's material at a tempo [so] slow you scarcely notice it's moving at all, and creates atmospheres of searing despair that are hard to resist no matter how happy you are when you start listening."

Mr. Sledge claimed to have cowritten "When a Man Loves a Woman" - his first record and signature song - from hard experience.

As he told the story, he had worked as a hospital orderly and performed on weekends with an Alabama band called the Esquires Combo. When his girlfriend left him to seek a modeling career in New Jersey - with his best friend - Mr. Sledge, overcome with emotion, made up a song about it on the spot at a gig.

Local record producer Quin Ivy offered to record the song, then titled "Why Did You Leave Me Baby?," provided Mr. Sledge come up with better lyrics.

After several rewrites with bassist Calvin Lewis and organist Andrew Wright of the Esquires Combo, the song became "When a Man Loves a Woman," a No. 1 hit on both the rhythm-and-blues and pop charts. The record was picked up by Atlantic Records, which signed Mr. Sledge with Ivy as his primary producer.

The market for Mr. Sledge's somber brand of love songs waned with the advent of funk and disco in the mid-1970s, although he remained a consistent draw overseas and continued to play smaller clubs in the United States.

A 1994 Sledge album, Blue Night, with guest appearances from guitarists Steve Cropper of Booker T. and the MGs and Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones, was widely praised.

Percy Tyrone Sledge was born in Leighton, Ala., on Nov. 25, 1940. He joined an a cappella doo-wop group at 15 but said his favorite singers were country performers such as Hank Williams, Jim Reeves and Marty Robbins.

Survivors include his wife, the former Rosa Singleton, and 12 children.