Percy Sledge Birthplace — Leighton, Alabama

Percy Tyrone Sledge was born on November 25, 1940, in Leighton, Alabama — a small Colbert County town in the Tennessee River valley, in the heart of the Muscle Shoals music region. He worked as a hospital orderly and sang in local churches and nightclubs before FAME Studios owner Rick Hall heard him and brought him in to record. In February 1966, Sledge went into the studio and recorded "When a Man Loves a Woman" — a slow, devastated ballad about romantic surrender — in a single take. It became the first soul record to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

"When a Man Loves a Woman" was a phenomenon: raw, aching, and utterly convincing, it demonstrated everything the Muscle Shoals approach did best — a performance of complete emotional authenticity, supported by a rhythm section and horn arrangement that served the feeling without overwhelming it. The song has been covered hundreds of times, most famously by Michael Bolton in 1991, but Sledge's original remains the definitive version. Atlantic Records released it, and its success helped establish the Muscle Shoals recording scene internationally.

Leighton and the broader Colbert County area acknowledge Sledge as part of the region's remarkable musical heritage. He continued performing until shortly before his death from liver cancer on April 14, 2015, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. A historical marker in the Shoals area commemorates his contribution to American soul music.