Steve Cropper, member of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84
Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The musician, who played on and collaborated on writing Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away recently in the city of Nashville.
Often cited among the greatest studio bands in soul music, the four-piece band Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a message.
"While we mourn the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added.
A specific cause was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.
"He's such a kind human," Gore commented. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs came together, featuring keyboardist 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 rhythm player," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They won't even play the same phrase twice."
Not only was he 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 historical accounts, he was "integral to nearly all record released by Stax from 1961 through 1970".
"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
