Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.
The artist, who contributed to and helped pen the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away recently in Music City, Nashville.
Widely regarded among the finest backing bands in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T & the MGs was the house band of the historic Memphis label Stax Records and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent impacted generations around the world," his family said in a release.
"While we grieve the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.
A cause of death was not disclosed.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.
"He's such a kind human," Gore remarked. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were founded, comprising keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always seen myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They refuse to play the same lick twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to available information, he was "integral to the majority of record issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".
"We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists we worked with, so we had a very hectic schedule."
