Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84
The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The artist, who contributed to and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.
Widely regarded among the finest backing bands in soul and R&B, the group the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose immense talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a message.
"While we grieve the loss of a loved one and companion, we are consoled knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they noted.
A cause of death was not disclosed.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs came together, 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 honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always seen myself as a rhythm player," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They refuse to play the same lick twice."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to available information, he was "integral to the majority of record issued by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had nearly 20 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
