The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, guitarist of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died aged 84
The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.
The guitar virtuoso, who performed on and co-wrote the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died 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 influential Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and played on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a cherished artist, writer, and producer whose profound talent touched generations around the world," his family stated in a statement.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we take solace knowing that Steve will live forever through his music," they continued.
A cause of death was not disclosed.
A friend, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material.
"He's such a wonderful human," Gore said. "We were blessed to have him, for sure."
A Storied Musical Path
Voted the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs came together, featuring 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 considered myself to be a rhythm guitarist," Cropper explained in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They refuse to play the same phrase twice."
In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to his official biography, he was "involved in the majority of record issued by Stax from late 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
