Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84
Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The guitar virtuoso, who played on and helped pen the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died this past Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.
Considered among the best supporting groups in the history of soul music, the four-piece band the MGs was the resident studio band of the historic Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and played on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent impacted countless people around the world," his family expressed 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 immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.
"He's such a good human," Gore remarked. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were founded, comprising keyboardist 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 considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They refuse to play the same lick 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 collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to available information, he was "integral to the majority of record released by Stax from 1961 through 1970".
"We would often spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
