#27: When A Man Loves A Woman by Luba

City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: January 1988
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #8
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #25
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ did not chart
YouTube: “When A Man Loves A Woman”
Lyrics: “When A Man Loves A Woman”

Lubomyra Kowalchyk was born in 1958 in Montreal, Quebec. During her teens she travelled across Canada performing traditional Ukrainian folk songs at weddings and festivals. Growing up she studied piano, guitar, flute and voice. She was a fine-arts student when she formed a band called Zorya in 1973, releasing an album. In 1977 she released her second album titled. Lubomyra. In 1978 she formed a band named Luba with herself as the lead vocalist. Then, when her father died in 1979, she wrote what would become her signature song, “Everytime I See Your Picture”, as a tribute to him. The first studio album for the band Luba, Chain Reaction, was released in 1980. A Luba (EP) was released in 1982 containing “Every time I See Your Picture”.  The song climbed to #1 in Ottawa, #3 in Halifax, #6 in Montreal and #11 in Kitchener (ON). She performed in front of 12,000 rock fans at the Montreal Forum in January 1983. She was the opening act at that concert for the headliner Chris de Burgh.

In the fall of 1984 Luba had a hit record titled “Let It Go”, which peaked at #8 on CKOI in Montreal. The single spent 18 weeks on the Montreal chart. It also climbed to #8 in Ottawa. In 1985 she recorded four songs that were featured in the Canadian animated cartoon series The Raccoons. Her single “Storm Before The Calm” climbed to #5 in Montreal in April 1985.

In 1986 Luba released a single titled “How Many (rivers to cross)“. Several more albums were released and Luba won three Juno Awards for Female Vocalist of the Year in 1985, 1986 and 1987.

In 1987, Luba released “When A Man Loves A Woman”.

“When A Man Loves A Woman” was written by Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright. Calvin Lewis and Andrew Wright were members of the Esquires, a band in Sheffield, Alabama, fronted by singer Percy Sledge. According to Wright, “We were set to play a Friday night dance, and we were practicing … I was messing around on the organ when this riff came up out of nowhere. There was no one in the club but us. I told Calvin to go home and write some words.” The next night, they rehearsed the emerging song with Sledge, changed it around, and soon afterward auditioned the song for local businessman and radio DJ Quin Ivy. He liked the song but suggested that some of the words be changed to give a more positive message. Wright said, “We kept some of the phrases, worked on it for several weeks, and spent quite a bit of time in the studio.”

Although the writing of the song is credited to Lewis and Wright, Sledge later said that he should have received a co-writing credit. In one story, Sledge said that one night he was upset over a broken relationship and asked Lewis and Wright to play a slow blues over which he improvised lyrics describing his emotions; Quin Ivy was at the show and asked the band to refine the lyrics so that it could be recorded. Sledge said that he allowed Lewis and Wright to take the writing credits because they gave him the opportunity “to sing his heart out.”

In another interview, Sledge said:

When I wrote the song at first, it was called “Why Did You Leave Me Baby”. And I changed it from that to “When a Man Loves a Woman”. I just reversed it. 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. He was one of the top disc jockeys at that time. Sure enough, he asked me if I had any lyrics for that. He said, “That’s it! Write a story around that title! What a song that would be with that feeling you had!” It was a song that was meant to be. It wasn’t just what I had done; it was the musicians, the producer, the background singers, the right time.

Percy Sledge’s original topped the pop charts in Canada and the USA, eventually reached #2 in the UK, #3 in France, #4 in Belgium, #7 in Sweden, #10 in the Netherlands, #13 in West Germany, and #21 in Finland. His recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999. Bette Midler released a cover of “When A Man Leaves A Woman” in 1980 as part of the soundtrack for the movie The Rose. 

With such a popular hit, Luba was took a risk by releasing a single of the iconic song. Her cover of the Percy Sledge soul classic from 1966, “When A Man Loves A Woman” was her biggest charting success across Canada. Her cover peaked at #6 on the Canadian RPM singles chart in November 1987.

“When A Man Love’s A Woman” peaked at #7 in Sydney (NS), and Toronto, #8 in Hamilton (ON), #21 in Montreal, and #25 in Vancouver.

Other covers of “When A Man Loves A Woman” have been released by country singers Jack Grayson, Narvel Felts, British rock singer Joe Cocker, and Australian rock singer Jimmy Barnes. In November 1991, Michael Bolton’s cover of “When A Man Loves A Woman” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks. Bolton’s version earned him a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

In 1989 Luba’s fourth studio album was released titled All Of Nothing. The first single from the album was “Giving Away A Miracle“. It climbed to #9 on the Canadian RPM singles chart in the fall of the year. Her second single release was “A Little Salvation“.

Despite Luba’s 1989 album All Or Nothing selling platinum in Canada, she was dropped by Capitol Records. Next, her marriage Peter Marunzak, her former drummer and manager, ended. Then both her grandmother and mother died. Subsequently, her sister was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Since her sister needed intensive care, Luba set aside her musical career and focused on taking care of what family she had.

After a ten year break from recording, in 2000 Luba released an album titled From the Bitter to the Sweet. It included the Top 30 Canadian single “Is She A Lot Like Me”.

In 2007 Luba moved to the Caribbean island of Anguilla. In 2014 she released an album titled ICON. This was a “best of” collection of her hits. She also performed for the first time in 14 years. The setting was the Fierté Montréal Festival in August ‘2014. At the time, Luba was interviewed by the Montreal Gazette and told the paper she planned to start a new band a begin touring in 2015.

November 22, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Luba Comes Home, with Pride,” Montreal Gazette, August 13, 2014.
Vernell Hackett, “Writers Pen Only One Hit: But…When A Man Loves A Woman” Is A Definite Hit,” American Songwriter, September 1, 1994.
Randall Roberts, “Appreciation: Percy Sledge’s ‘When a Man Loves a Woman,’ a great American ballad,” Los Angeles Times, April 14, 2015.

CKOC 1150-AM Hamilton (ON) Top Ten | January 20, 1988