Steve Cropper, member of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84.
The artist, who played on and collaborated on writing Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died recently in Music City, Nashville.
Often cited among the finest backing bands in soul and R&B, the four-piece band Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the historic Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose immense talent touched countless people around the world," his family said in a release.
"While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.
A specific cause was not immediately known.
A friend, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore remarked. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Named the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were founded, 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 considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," 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 won't even play the same riff 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 "involved in virtually every record issued by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would often spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
