The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has passed away aged 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The artist, who performed on and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away recently in Nashville.
Often cited among the best supporting groups in soul and R&B, the group Booker T & the MGs was the core musical unit of the historic Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family said in a statement.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they noted.
A specific cause was not immediately known.
An associate, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing fresh material.
"He's such a good human," Gore remarked. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Voted the runner-up for 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 came together, consisting of organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always thought of myself as a rhythm player," Cropper said in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They won't even play the same riff twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative 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 "a part of virtually every record released by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would often spend 15 hours a day 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."
