Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of Booker T and the MGs, has died aged 84
The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The guitar virtuoso, who performed 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 Music City, Nashville.
Widely regarded among the best studio bands in the history of soul music, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent inspired generations around the world," his family stated in a release.
"While we mourn the loss of a family man and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they noted.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
An associate, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material.
"He's such a kind human," Gore commented. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Ranked the number two guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper began working 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 considered myself to be a rhythm player," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They are reluctant to repeat the same phrase twice."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and alongside 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 issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would often spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists we worked with, so we had a very hectic schedule."
