Percy Sledge is the first artist to top the charts at #1 with a soul single, “When a Man Loves a Woman.” His song has crossed borders and has united people of all ethnicities with its funk and passion.
On this day, April 7th, in 1994, the man known for his hit love single “When a Man Loves a Woman” pleads guilty to cheating the government. He was convicted of tax invasion of $95,000 due to his failed attempt to report his $260,000 earnings from 1980s performances. He was sentenced to a five-year probation and six months in a halfway house. Nonetheless, this soulful artist was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame a year after his probation.
Still a popular song many years after its 1966 release, “When a Man Loves a Woman” has been covered by a number of artists including Karen Dalton, Jerry Butler and Art Garfunkel.