Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84
Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84.
The musician, who performed on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in Music City, Nashville.
Often cited among the finest studio bands in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T & the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a statement.
"While we grieve the loss of a family man and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.
A specific cause was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material.
"He's such a good human," Gore said. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Voted the runner-up for 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 came together, comprising organist 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 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 lick twice."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative 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 "involved in nearly all record issued by Stax from 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would often spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists we worked with, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
