🔗 Share this article

The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.

The musician, who played on and collaborated on writing Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away recently in Music City, Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest studio bands in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their classic 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper later became a member of the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.

"Steve was a cherished guitarist, composer, and producer whose extraordinary talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family said in a release.

"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they noted.

A specific cause was not disclosed.

An associate, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing new songs.

"He's such a wonderful human," Gore commented. "We were fortunate to have him, for sure."

A Prolific Career

Ranked the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a British music magazine in 1996, Cropper began working at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.

A year later, the MGs were founded, 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 seen myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a previous conversation. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat the same lick twice."

As well as a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and in addition to 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 nearly all record put out by Stax from 1961 through year end 1970".

"We would often spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a very hectic schedule."