Steve Cropper, musician of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The musician, who contributed to and co-wrote 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 quartet Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family said in a release.
"While we grieve the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.
A reason for his passing was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new songs.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always thought of myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They won't even play the same phrase twice."
As well as 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 his official biography, he was "involved in virtually every record issued by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had nearly 20 artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."
