Steve Cropper, member of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.
The artist, who contributed to and collaborated on writing Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in Nashville.
Widely regarded among the greatest studio bands in soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched countless people around the world," his family said in a statement.
"While we mourn the loss of a family man and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.
A cause of death was not disclosed.
An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new songs.
"He's such a kind human," Gore commented. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were founded, consisting of organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They won't even play the same riff twice."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to historical accounts, he was "involved in the majority of record released by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists we worked with, so we had a very hectic schedule."
