reached the top 10 twice in the UK and topped the US Billboard chart for two weeks in 1966, when it also got to number four in the UK chart.

During an interview for the the 2013 documentary Muscle Shoals, he recalled his first recording of it.

"When I came into the studio, I was shaking like a leaf. I was scared," he said, adding that it was the "same melody that I sang when I was out in the fields. I just wailed out in the woods and let the echo come back to me".

'Signed away the rights'

He told BBC Radio 6 Music's Craig Charles in a 2011 interview that he came up with the melody for When A Man Loves A Woman, but signed away the rights ofhe was absolutely amazing to watch, be it singing When A Man Loves A Woman or Dark End Of The Street," Gest told BBC News.

"Percy was one of the great performers and a man that knew the true meaning of the word 'soul'. Sleep well my friend."

BBC Radio 2 DJ Tony Blackburn added his feelings to those paying tribute on Twitter, and said: "Sad to hear that Percy Sledge has died. I wonder how many times I've played When A Man Loves A Woman. RIP."

Musician Bootsy Collins paid tribute on his Facebook page with the words: "Just lost another legend funkateers, Mr Percy Sledge."

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Sledge performed at his induction into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame in March 2010

Paul Gambacini told the BBC