Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the iconic band 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 Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.
Considered among the finest studio bands in the history of soul music, the quartet Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched countless people around the world," his family expressed in a release.
"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 disclosed.
A friend, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.
"He's such a good human," Gore remarked. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper began working at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs came together, 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 considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They are reluctant to repeat the same riff twice."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to historical accounts, he was "integral to the majority of record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
