Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has passed away aged 84
The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The artist, who performed on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed on Wednesday in Nashville.
Often cited among the best supporting groups in soul and R&B, the four-piece band the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent inspired countless people around the world," his family expressed in a message.
"While we mourn the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore remarked. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Named the number two guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper first found employment at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always seen myself as a rhythm player," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same lick twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to his official biography, he was "involved in the majority of record issued by Stax from 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
