(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 greenekey musicians of what became the muscle shoals sound, heard on countless soul recordssledge 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 magazinethe song would have helped provide for his childrenbut 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 timesmichael bolton took it to no 1 in 1991and 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
percy sledge baton rouge a man loves a woman louisiana sledge tuesday morning 73
'when a man loves a woman' singer percy sledge dies at 73  sledge died tuesday morning in baton rouge, louisiana  'when a man loves a woman' is cornerstone of soul music, much covered and much played 