The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has passed away aged 84
The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84.
The musician, who performed on and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in Nashville.
Often cited among the best studio bands in soul and R&B, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent touched countless people around the world," his family expressed in a message.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they noted.
A reason for his passing was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Named 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 keyboardist 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 considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat the same lick twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and alongside 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 the fall of 1961 through 1970".
"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a very hectic schedule."
