Steve Cropper, the iconic soulful guitarist and songwriter of Stax’s Booker T. and the M.G.’s, has passed away. He was 84.
According to NPR, Pat Mitchell Worley, president and CEO of the Soulsville Foundation, said that Cropper passed on Wednesday in Nashville.
A cause of death has not been released.
Eddie Gore, a long-term associate, said he was with Cropper on Tuesday at a rehabilitation facility in Nashville. Cropper had recently suffered a fall.
“He’s such a good human,” Gore said. “We were blessed to have him, for sure.”
Born in Dora, MO, his family relocated to Memphis when he was nine. He began playing guitar at 14 years old.
While in high school, Cropper formed his first band, Royal Spades, which included bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn. Saxophonist Charles “Packy” Axton joined the group, whose mother and uncle, Estelle Axton and Jim Stewart, operated a small record label, Satellite Records, soon renamed Stax.
When Mar-Keys became the label’s horn section, Cropper and other members of Mar-Keys formed Booker T. and the M.G. ‘s. The racially integrated band featured keyboard player Booker T. Jones, Dunn and drummer Al Jackson. They created classics such as “Green Onions,” “Hang ‘Em High”, and “Time Is Tight.” The MGs backed Otis Redding, Sam & Dave and others.
Cropper always considered himself a rhythm player.
“I’ve always thought of myself as a rhythm player,” Cropper said in an interview. “I get off on the fact that I can play something over and over and over. While other guitar players don’t want to even know about that. They won’t even play the same riff or the same lick twice.”
A successful songwriter, he co-wrote classics such as Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” and Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour.” He also served as an A&R man and producer at Stax, working with artists like Sam & Dave and Eddie Floyd. In the 80s, he became a member of The Blues Brothers Band, appearing in both films.
Cropper, along with Booker T. & the M.G.’s, was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1992.