Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84
The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.
The musician, 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 recently in Nashville.
Widely regarded among the best studio bands in soul and R&B, the group Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the historic Memphis label Stax/Volt and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose immense talent inspired countless people around the world," his family expressed in a release.
"While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added.
A specific cause was not released at this time.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.
"He's such a good human," Gore remarked. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Voted the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax 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 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 player," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same riff twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and besides 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 "a part of virtually every record issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".
"We would often spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
