Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has left us 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 the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.
Widely regarded among the best backing bands in soul and R&B, the four-piece band the MGs was the house band of the historic Memphis label Stax/Volt 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 '70s and played on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent impacted generations around the world," his family stated in a statement.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they noted.
A reason for his passing was not immediately known.
An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new songs.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Named the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, featuring 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 thought of myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They are reluctant to repeat the same phrase twice."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and besides 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 "involved in the majority of record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
