Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84
Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The artist, who contributed to and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away on Wednesday in Nashville.
Often cited among the greatest studio bands in soul and R&B, the group the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a release.
"While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added.
A cause of death was not disclosed.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing fresh material.
"He's such a good human," Gore commented. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Voted the second-best 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 came together, consisting of 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 explained in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They are reluctant to repeat the same riff twice."
In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to his official biography, he was "a part of nearly all record released by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would literally spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
