Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84.
The artist, who played on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.
Widely regarded among the best studio bands in soul music, the group the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose immense talent inspired countless people around the world," his family said in a statement.
"While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.
A cause of death was not disclosed.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing fresh material.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Voted the runner-up for 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 formed, consisting of keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always seen myself as a rhythm player," Cropper said in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They won't even play the same lick twice."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to his official biography, he was "integral to the majority of record issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".
"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
