Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has passed away aged 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died on Wednesday in the city of Nashville.
Considered among the greatest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the resident studio band of the historic Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and performed on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished musician, songwriter, and producer whose immense talent touched millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a release.
"While we grieve the loss of a family man and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they noted.
A reason for his passing was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "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 started his career at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were founded, comprising keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced 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 player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."
In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and alongside 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 virtually every record issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".
"We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
