Steve Cropper, musician of Booker T and the MGs, has died 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 guitar virtuoso, who contributed to and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in Music City, Nashville.
Considered among the greatest studio bands in soul music, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the historic Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose profound talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a message.
"While we grieve the loss of a loved one and companion, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
A friend, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore remarked. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Named the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs came together, consisting of keyboardist 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 said in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They won't even play the same riff twice."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to historical accounts, he was "integral to nearly all record put out by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."
