Percy Sledge, the man famous for his song When a Man Loves a Woman, has died at age 73.

Before his music career, Sledge worked in the cotton fields around his hometown of Leighton in northwest Alabama, before taking a job as a hospital nurse in the early 1960s.

Percy Sledge performing in Jamaica

A patient heard him singing while he worked and recommended him to record producer Quin Ivy. The singer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 and was a member of the Alabama Music Hall of Fame and the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

Sledge has performed in Jamaica as many as nine times.

He is survived by his wife and children.