Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.
The guitar virtuoso, who played on and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in Nashville.
Often cited among the greatest supporting groups in the history of soul music, the group 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 also joined the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent touched generations around the world," his family expressed in a statement.
"While we grieve the loss of a loved one and companion, we are consoled knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore remarked. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Named the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper began working at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising keyboardist 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 remarked in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They are reluctant to repeat the same phrase twice."
Not only was he 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 year end 1970".
"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
