Steve Cropper, member of the soul group 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 left us at the age of 84.
The artist, who contributed to and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died this past Wednesday in Nashville.
Considered among the best supporting groups in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent inspired countless people around the world," his family expressed in a release.
"While we mourn the loss of a family man and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.
A cause of death was not disclosed.
An associate, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new songs.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore remarked. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Ranked 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 were formed, consisting of organist 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 guitarist," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They won't even play the same phrase twice."
In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to his official biography, he was "a part of nearly all record put out by Stax from 1961 through 1970".
"We would literally spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."
