Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84
Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The artist, who contributed to and collaborated on writing the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, succumbed on Wednesday in Music City, Nashville.
Considered among the greatest supporting groups in soul and R&B, the group Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and played on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose immense talent touched millions of lives around the world," his family said in a statement.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they added.
A cause of death was not immediately known.
An associate, Eddie Gore, mentioned he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new music.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore remarked. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Voted the number two guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, featuring organist 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 thought of myself as a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, while other guitar players wouldn't consider it. They refuse to play the same lick twice."
In addition to being 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 "a part of the majority of record issued by Stax from late 1961 through the end of 1970".
"We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
