The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, dies aged 84
Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has died 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, succumbed this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.
Considered among the best backing bands in soul music, the quartet Booker T & the MGs was the resident studio band of the historic Memphis label Stax Records and is primarily known for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired musician, songwriter, and producer whose profound talent touched generations around the world," his family stated in a release.
"While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they continued.
A cause of death was not disclosed.
A friend, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, consisting of 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 seen myself as a rhythm player," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same lick twice."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to available information, he was "involved in the majority of record issued by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would often spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
