Percy Sledge

When a Man Loves a Woman is one of the most recognized signature tunes ever recorded.  That song title and the name of Percy Sledge are as intertwined in our collective soul music consciousness as almost any pairing in the entire music industry. Released in the summer of 1966, the hit shaped a musical genre for decades.  Percy Sledge later released his CD Blue Night in 1994, again to great acclaim including a Grammy nomination and winning the Blues Foundation’s W.C. Handy Award for Best Soul/Blues Album of the Year. His newest release Shining Through the Rain is, in Sledge’s own words, “an album of soul music the way it was truly meant to be.” In the words of Rolling Stone magazine, “ Shining Through the Rain shows that Percy Sledge can still locate the emotional essence of a song, as he did so unforgettably on When a Man Loves a Woman, his 1966 debut single. Throughout this easy-grooving record, Sledge seems to expend no more energy than it takes to keep a porch swing rocking."  A Percy Sledge concert is a celebration of rhythm and blues, romance and heartache, telling us the truth of what it’s all about...  Sampson CenterStage is going to rock.