Steve Cropper, musician of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away 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, died on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.
Widely regarded among the finest studio bands in the history of soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired musician, songwriter, and producer whose immense talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a message.
"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 reason for his passing was not disclosed.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing fresh material.
"He's such a kind human," Gore said. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Voted 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, featuring keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always seen myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a past interview. "I take pride in 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 besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to available information, he was "a part of nearly all record released by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would literally spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
