🔗 Share this article

The legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with the seminal soul group Booker T & the MGs, has left us at the age of 84.

The guitar virtuoso, who contributed to and collaborated on writing Otis Redding's Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, died recently in Nashville.

Widely regarded among the greatest supporting groups in soul music, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the core musical unit of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax Records and is most famous for their 1962 track Green Onions.

Cropper also joined the blues revival band 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 profound talent touched millions of lives around the world," his family said in a message.

"While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we find comfort knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they added.

A reason for his passing was not immediately known.

A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.

"He's such a kind human," Gore said. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."

A Prolific Career

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

A year later, the MGs were formed, consisting of organist 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 remarked in a previous conversation. "I enjoy the fact that I can play something over and over, 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 besides 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 "integral to nearly all record put out by Stax from the fall of 1961 through 1970".

"We would often spend long days in the studio," Cropper noted in an interview. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."