Steve Cropper, member of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84.
The artist, who performed on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.
Considered among the greatest supporting groups in the history of soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is primarily known for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family said in a release.
"While we grieve the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they continued.
A specific cause was not disclosed.
A friend, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Ranked the number two guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always thought of myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to available information, he was "a part of virtually every record put out by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
