Steve Cropper, member of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The artist, who contributed to and collaborated on writing Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.
Often cited among the greatest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the group the MGs was the house band of the historic Memphis label Stax and is most famous for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper later became a member of the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their hit cover of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a message.
"While we mourn the loss of a family man and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they continued.
A specific cause was not released at this time.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Voted the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, 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 thought of myself as a rhythm player," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They won't even play the same phrase twice."
Not only was he 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 available information, he was "involved in the majority of record put out by Stax from the fall of 1961 through 1970".
"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
