Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The artist, who played on and co-wrote Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed recently in Nashville.
Considered among the best studio bands in soul and R&B, the four-piece band the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent impacted generations around the world," his family said in a statement.
"While we grieve the loss of a family man and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added.
A cause of death was not released at this time.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new songs.
"He's such a good human," Gore said. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Voted the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced 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 seen myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same riff twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a vastly creative songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to his official biography, he was "integral to the majority of record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists we worked with, so we had a very hectic schedule."
