Steve Cropper, member of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The guitar virtuoso, who contributed to and helped pen the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed this past Wednesday in Nashville.
Widely regarded among the greatest backing bands in the history of soul music, the four-piece band Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the historic Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their successful version 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 feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they noted.
A specific cause was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Named the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, featuring keyboardist 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 rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat the same lick 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 the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
