The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has passed away 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 this past Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.
Considered among the finest backing bands in the history of soul music, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the house band of the historic Memphis label Stax Records and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and featured on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose extraordinary talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family expressed in a message.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they continued.
A reason for his passing was not released at this time.
An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new music.
"He's such a good human," Gore commented. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Ranked the second-best 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 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 inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat the same phrase twice."
In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and in addition to 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 "integral to the majority of record released by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
