The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, member of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The guitar virtuoso, who played on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away recently in the city of Nashville.
Widely regarded among the finest supporting groups in the history of soul music, the group the MGs was the resident studio band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is primarily known for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a statement.
"While we grieve the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added.
A specific cause was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.
"He's such a good human," Gore remarked. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax Records in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, featuring organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always seen myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same riff twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and in addition to Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to available information, he was "integral to nearly all record issued by Stax from 1961 through 1970".
"We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."