"When a Man Loves a Woman" is a song written by Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright and first recorded by Percy Sledge[1] in 1966 at Norala Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama.

[6] The sidemen for the recording included Spooner Oldham, Farfisa organ; Marlin Greene, guitar; Albert "Junior" Lowe, electric bass and Roger Hawkins, drums.

Also on the session were Jack Peck, trumpet, Billy Cofield and Don “Rim” Pollard, tenor sax, and Jerry Eddleman, Jeannie Greene, Sandy Posey, and Hershel Wiggington, backing vocals.

Rick Hall arranged a distribution deal with Atlantic Records, but Jerry Wexler asked that the song be re-recorded because the horns were out of tune.

[7] Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright were members of the Esquires, a band in Sheffield, Alabama fronted by singer Percy Sledge.

Sledge said that he allowed Lewis and Wright to take the writing credits because they gave him the opportunity "to sing his heart out".

Quin told me that if I was to write some lyrics around that melody and the expression I'd put into "Why Did You Leave Me Baby", he believed it would've been a hit record.

His version of the song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts, becoming Bolton's second US number-one hit.

With the Percy Sledge original having reached number one previously, Bolton's version made it the seventh song to top the Hot 100 as recorded by multiple artists.

Ryles's version was a minor hit, reaching number 72 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.

[54] In 1979, American actress and singer Bette Midler covered the song for the soundtrack of The Rose, which tells a fictionalized version of Janis Joplin's life story.

[56][57] Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes released a version of "When a Man Loves a Woman" as the lead single from his 1988 live album Barnestorming.