Percy Sledge

Characteristic of the many mainstream covers of black r&b hits, Percy Sledge's When a Man Loves A Woman (Atlantic 1966) provides the basis for the instrumental for Procol Harum's 1967 hit, A Whiter Shade of Pale.

Music producer Jerry Wexler dubbed When a Man Loves a Woman “a transcendent moment, a holy love hymn.” There had been many such equivalent moments in r&b and blues recordings, many of which would go down in history as massive hits for a galaxy of white stars of rock and roll.