The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The guitar virtuoso, 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 recently in Music City, Nashville.
Often cited among the greatest supporting groups in soul music, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the historic Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched millions of lives around the world," his family said in a statement.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they added.
A specific cause was not disclosed.
An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing fresh material.
"He's such a good human," Gore remarked. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Ranked the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax Records 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 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 considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They won't even 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 historical accounts, he was "a part of virtually every record released by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
