Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84
Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The artist, who performed on and helped pen the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died recently in Nashville.
Widely regarded among the best studio bands in soul and R&B, the group the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted countless people around the world," his family expressed in a statement.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.
A specific cause was not disclosed.
A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.
"He's such a good human," Gore remarked. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Voted 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 founded, consisting of keyboardist 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 considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. 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 co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to his official biography, he was "a part of the majority of record put out by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a very hectic schedule."
