Steve Cropper, musician of Booker T and the MGs, has died aged 84
Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84.
The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away on Wednesday in Nashville.
Often cited among the greatest backing bands in soul music, the group the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a statement.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we are consoled knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they continued.
A specific cause was not immediately known.
An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.
"He's such a good human," Gore said. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were founded, 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 said in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat the same riff twice."
In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a productive 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 available information, he was "involved in nearly all record released by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."
