The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of Booker T and the MGs, has died at the age of 84
Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The artist, who played on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in Nashville.
Often cited among the finest backing bands in soul music, the quartet the MGs was the resident studio band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent impacted countless people around the world," his family expressed in a release.
"While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued.
A specific cause was not immediately known.
An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.
"He's such a good human," Gore remarked. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Named the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax 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 replaced 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 player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They won't even play the same riff twice."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to his official biography, he was "integral to the majority of record put out by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".
"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists we worked with, so we had a very hectic schedule."
