Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group 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, succumbed on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.
Widely regarded among the greatest backing bands in soul and R&B, the group the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is most famous for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent inspired countless people around the world," his family expressed in a release.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they added.
A specific cause was not released at this time.
An associate, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new songs.
"He's such a good human," Gore remarked. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax Records 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 entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always seen myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."
In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to historical accounts, he was "a part of virtually every record issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".
"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
