Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has died aged 84
Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The guitar virtuoso, who contributed to and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away recently in Music City, Nashville.
Widely regarded among the finest supporting groups in soul music, the four-piece band the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family said in a statement.
"While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they noted.
A reason for his passing was not immediately known.
A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.
"He's such a good human," Gore said. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Ranked the number two guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, 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 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always thought of myself as a rhythm player," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They are reluctant to repeat the same riff twice."
In addition to being 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 his official biography, he was "involved in nearly all record released by Stax from the fall of 1961 through 1970".
"We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists we worked with, so we had a very hectic schedule."
