Sledge enjoys Hall of Fame spotlight

LOS ANGELES - “I tell you one thing — I can’t hardly believe what’s happening for me right now,” Percy Sledge says. “I have been truly blessed by the good Lord.”

Soul man Sledge is referring to the announcement this week of his overdue induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The vocalist will join other members of that august body’s class of ’05 — U2, the Pretenders, the O’Jays and Buddy Guy — at the induction ceremony at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria on March 14.

“I never would have thought it would be coming so soon,” Sledge says of the honor. “I was really surprised.”

Others may be less surprised. Sledge was eligible for induction in 1991 — 25 years after the release of his first record, which he concocted off the cuff as “Why Did You Leave Me Baby” at an Alabama club date. And what a record it was.

Classic tune
Everyone recalls its spectral organ introduction, its surging horns and the singer’s impassioned cri de coeur. Cut in a Sheffield, Ala., studio with session men drafted from nearby Muscle Shoals’ Fame Music, and re-named “When a Man Loves a Woman,” the tune put Sledge on the musical map. It reached No. 1 on the pop and R&B charts in spring 1966.

The tune has been ubiquitous on oldies stations and in movies, TV shows and commercials ever since. Sledge would go on to cut a number of other memorable Southern soul singles for Atlantic — “It Tears Me Up,” “Out of Left Field,” “Take Time to Know Her” — but he will always be remembered for “When a Man Loves a Woman.”

Sledge says of its enduring appeal: “It’s a song that I sung about my life, and I sung it with so much feeling...Everything just fell into place. It touched all of humanity.”

New album
The Hall of Fame accolade should throw some light on Sledge’s most recent album, “Shining Through the Rain.” The collection, issued this year by Varese Sarabande, was the vocalist’s first since “Blue Night” was released by Virgin’s defunct Pointblank imprint a decade ago.

“It’s been a pretty long haul,” says Saul Davis, who co-produced both albums with veteran bluesman and keyboardist Barry Goldberg. “The guy’s only made, like, eight albums in his career.”

“Shining Through the Rain” might not have been made if not for a chance encounter. Two and a half years ago, Davis was on his way to publishing house Bug Music’s old offices at Hollywood & Highland and got off the elevator on the wrong floor. He struck up a conversation with Brett Nemeroff, whose company Velvet Steamroller was housed on that floor, and the film and music outfit wound up funding a new Sledge recording.

Cut with guests including Jakob Dylan of the Wallflowers, Paul Jones and a host of instrumental hotshots (guitarists Greg Leisz, Phil Upchurch and Denny Freeman, violinist Lili Haydn, vocalists the Waters), “Shining Through the Rain” is a mature soul work that deserves wider attention.

Sledge isn’t resting on his laurels: He continues to play domestic and international dates. “I work something like three days out of the week,” he says. “It’s been something like that for the last 15 or 20 years.”

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