Steve Cropper, member of Booker T and the MGs, has passed away aged 84
Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The artist, who contributed to and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, passed away recently in Music City, Nashville.
Often cited among the greatest backing bands in soul music, the group the MGs was the core musical unit of the historic Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 instrumental track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose immense talent impacted millions of lives around the world," his family stated in a statement.
"While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we are consoled knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.
A specific cause was not immediately known.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore remarked. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
An Illustrious Journey
Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax Records 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 honored by inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They refuse to play the same lick twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and in addition to 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 released by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would literally spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists on the roster, so we had a very hectic schedule."
