The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of Booker T and the MGs, has died aged 84
Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The artist, who contributed to and helped pen the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died this past Wednesday in Nashville.
Considered among the finest studio bands in soul music, the quartet the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired artist, writer, and producer whose immense talent impacted countless people around the world," his family expressed in a release.
"While we mourn the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they noted.
A specific cause was not disclosed.
An associate, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material.
"He's such a good human," Gore remarked. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Named the second-best guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, comprising organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."
Not only was he 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 "involved in the majority of record put out by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had a roster of artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
