Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.
The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and collaborated on writing Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed this past Wednesday in Nashville.
Often cited among the best backing bands in soul music, the four-piece band Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band 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 extraordinary talent inspired generations around the world," his family expressed in a statement.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they continued.
A cause of death was not released at this time.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Named the second-best guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs came together, comprising keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always considered myself to be a rhythm player," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific 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 his official biography, he was "integral to virtually every record released by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
