Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The musician, who played on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died recently in Nashville.
Widely regarded among the finest backing bands in soul and R&B, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a statement.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.
A specific cause was not released at this time.
A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new songs.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore remarked. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Ranked the second-best 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, consisting of 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 rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They won't even play the same lick twice."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and alongside 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 "integral to nearly all record put out by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would often spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
