Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84
Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The artist, who played on and helped pen the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.
Considered among the finest studio bands in soul and R&B, the group Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched countless people around the world," his family said in a release.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.
A reason for his passing was not released at this time.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned 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 fortunate to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Named the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at the Stax label 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 entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always considered myself to be a rhythm player," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, 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 productive 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 available information, he was "a part of nearly all record released by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would often spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
