Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with the iconic band Booker T & the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84.
The musician, who played on and helped pen the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away recently in Music City, Nashville.
Often cited among the finest supporting groups in the history of soul music, the quartet the MGs was the house band of the groundbreaking Memphis label Stax/Volt and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper also joined the blues revival band The Blues Brothers in the 1970s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man.
"Steve was a beloved guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent impacted countless people around the world," his family said in a statement.
"While we feel sorrow for the loss of a family man and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they noted.
A cause of death was not released at this time.
A colleague, Eddie Gore, recalled he was with Cropper on Tuesday in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on new music.
"He's such a good human," Gore commented. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
A Prolific Career
Ranked the second-best guitarist of all time by a music periodical in 1996, Cropper started his career at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were founded, featuring keyboardist 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 seen myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a past interview. "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."
Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and alongside Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood.
According to available information, he was "integral to nearly all record issued by Stax from the fall of 1961 through 1970".
"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had nearly 20 artists we worked with, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."
