Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has passed away aged 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The artist, who played on and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died recently in Music City, Nashville.
Considered among the best backing bands in soul music, the group Booker T & the MGs was the resident studio band of the historic Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent inspired generations around the world," his family said in a message.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new songs.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax 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 honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always considered myself to be a rhythm player," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat the same riff twice."
Not only was he 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 his official biography, he was "integral to the majority of record put out by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
