Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has passed away aged 84
Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The musician, who played on and collaborated on writing Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.
Widely regarded among the best studio bands in soul music, the four-piece band Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent inspired countless people around the world," his family expressed in a release.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated 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 remarked. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Named the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs came together, comprising organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always thought of myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same riff twice."
In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to available information, he was "a part of the majority of record issued by Stax from 1961 through 1970".
"We would often spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."
