Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has died 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 the hit track In the Midnight Hour, passed away this past Wednesday in the city of Nashville.
Widely regarded among the best backing bands in soul and R&B, the quartet Booker T. Jones and the MGs was the core musical unit of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is best remembered for their 1962 track Green Onions.
Cropper went on to join the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and performed on their successful version of Soul Man.
"Steve was a deeply admired musician, songwriter, and producer whose profound talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family said in a release.
"While we grieve the loss of a loved one and companion, we are consoled knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they added.
A specific cause was not immediately known.
A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper recently in Nashville, where the guitarist was developing fresh material.
"He's such a good human," Gore commented. "We were lucky to have him, for sure."
Ranked the second-best guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper first found employment at Stax in 1961 at the age of 20.
A year later, the MGs were founded, consisting of keyboardist 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 considered myself to be a rhythm player," Cropper explained in a past interview. "I take pride in the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They won't even play the same riff twice."
Not only was he 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 released by Stax from the fall of 1961 through year end 1970".
"We would truly spend 15 hours a day in the studio," Cropper said. "I think we had nearly 20 artists signed to the label, so we had a pretty busy schedule."
A seasoned gaming enthusiast with over a decade of experience in reviewing online casinos and sharing winning strategies.
