The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 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 musician, who performed on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.
Widely regarded among the greatest backing bands in soul music, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a statement.
"While we grieve the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they continued.
A reason for his passing was not disclosed.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper began working at the Stax label 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 replaced 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 explained in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same riff twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and alongside 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 "involved in the majority of record put out by Stax from 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."