( CNN ) Percy Sledge , the R & B belter whose biggest hit , `` When a Man Loves a Woman , '' became a cornerstone of soul music , died Tuesday . He was 73 . Sledge died in Baton Rouge , Louisiana , said Stephanie Price of the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner 's Office . Sledge died of natural causes , said East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner Dr. William Clark . He had been in hospice care for cancer , Clark added . In a career that started in the 1960s , Sledge had a number of hits , including `` Take Time to Know Her , '' `` Warm and Tender Love '' and `` It Tears Me Up '' among them . But his first and biggest hit , `` When a Man Loves a Woman , '' towered over them all . Over a mournful , slowly rising instrumental track provided by organist Spooner Oldham , drummer Roger Hawkins and guitarist Marlin Greene -- key musicians of what became the Muscle Shoals sound , heard on countless soul records -- Sledge crooned , pleaded and roared his way through the tune . It came directly from the heart : Originally called `` Why Did You Leave Me Baby , '' he 'd written it about a former girlfriend , drawing from a tune that he used to sing to himself as a child . `` I hummed it all my life , even when I was picking and chopping cotton in the fields , '' the Alabama-born singer told the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . At the time , Sledge was working as a hospital orderly , picking up gigs at night with a group called the Esquires Combo . In a fit of generosity , he gave the songwriting credit for `` Woman '' to two of the Esquires , Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright , who had helped him with a few chords . The song was recorded on February 17 , 1966 , in Sheffield , Alabama . Atlantic Records picked it up and wanted to redo the slightly out-of-tune horns , but the original version ended up being released . It hit No . 1 on May 28 , 1966 . `` Southern soul had at last entered the mainstream of pop in the unlikely guise of the ultimate make-out song , '' music historian Peter Guralnick wrote . Producer Jerry Wexler called it `` a holy love hymn . '' Sledge never saw a dime of songwriting royalties . He had some regrets about that , he told Blues and Soul magazine -- the song would have helped provide for his children -- but he accepted it . `` Worst decision I ever made . But I am not at all bitter . I figure if God wanted me to do what I did , and say what I did to tell those guys they could have the song , then I 'll leave it that away , '' he told the magazine . `` When a Man Loves a Woman '' became a standard , covered many times -- Michael Bolton took it to No . 1 in 1991 -- and featured on several movie soundtracks . It was even the title of a 1994 film starring Andy Garcia and Meg Ryan . Sledge 's version also returned to the charts , hitting the UK top 10 in 1987 . Even with his other hits , he said , it all came back to `` When a Man Loves a Woman . '' `` The granddaddy to all of my songs . The boss of all of my songs . I have great respect for that song , '' he told Blues and Soul . `` Always will . '' Sledge was inducted into the Rock Hall in 2005 . His death was followed two weeks later by that of another '60s soul legend , Ben E. King , who had an enduring hit in 1961 with `` Stand By Me . '' People we 've lost in 2015 . CNN 's John Newsome contributed to this story .
` ` When a Man Loves a Woman '' ` Percy ` died at 73 . ` died Tuesday night in washing Rouge , il . ` ` When a Man Loves a Woman '' is cornerstone of soul music , much covered and much played .