Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has passed away aged 84
The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.
The artist, 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 recently in Music City, Nashville.
Widely regarded among the greatest studio bands in soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose immense talent impacted 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 noted.
A specific cause was not immediately known.
A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new songs.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Ranked the second-best 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 came together, 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 thought of myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They are reluctant to repeat the same lick twice."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to available information, he was "integral to the majority of record released by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would often spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."