Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, dies at the age of 84
Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has died 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, passed away on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.
Considered among the best studio bands in the history of soul music, the four-piece band Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the historic Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose immense talent inspired generations around the world," his family stated in a release.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.
A cause of death was not disclosed.
An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Ranked the number two guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper first found employment 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 succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was inducted 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 get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same lick twice."
In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and in addition to 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 nearly all record released by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".
"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists we worked with, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
