Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84
Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed this past Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.
Often cited among the finest studio bands in soul music, the group Booker T & the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent touched countless people around the world," his family said in a release.
"While we grieve the loss of a loved one and companion, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they continued.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new songs.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Voted the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were founded, 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 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."
In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to available information, he was "involved in virtually every record released by Stax from 1961 through 1970".
"We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."
