Steve Cropper, musician of the famed band Booker T & the MGs, dies aged 84
Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The musician, who contributed to and helped pen Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, succumbed on Wednesday in the city of Nashville.
Considered among the best backing bands in soul music, the group the MGs was the resident studio band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and played on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent inspired countless people around the world," his family said in a release.
"While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we take solace knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they continued.
A specific cause was not immediately known.
An associate, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating new songs.
"He's such a good human," Gore remarked. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper began working at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were formed, featuring keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964.
The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.
"I've always considered myself to be a player who focuses on rhythm," Cropper remarked in a past interview. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."
As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he co-wrote Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to available information, he was "a part of virtually every record issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970".
"We would often spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
