legendary guitarist for Booker T & the MGs, dies aged 84
At the age of 84, Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist whose work as an instrumentalist, producer, and songwriter at Stax Records had a lasting impact on Memphis soul music, has away.
Variety was informed of his passing by his son Cameron.
Cropper was a prolific musician who gained notoriety as the guitarist for Booker T & the MGs, an interracial soul quartet that is regarded as the best supporting group in soul music. They are still most remembered for their classic blues song, “Green Onions.” But Cropper’s distinctive guitar work powered many of the tunes out of Stax Records, the legendary Memphis soul label that issued a run of international hits by such soul luminaries as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Rufus and Carla Thomas, and Eddie Floyd.
The MG songs Soul-Limbo and Time is Tight, as well as major R&B hits like Redding’s (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay and Mr. Pitiful, Pickett’s In the Midnight Hour and 634-5789, Floyd’s Knock On Wood and Raise Your Hand, and Don Covay’s See Saw and Sookie Sookie, all featured Cropper as a producer and engineer.
In 1996, British music magazine Mojo declared Cropper the second-best guitarist of all time, behind only Jimi Hendrix.
Growing up in Memphis, Cropper started playing the guitar at the age of 14. In 1961, at the age of 20, he started working at the Stax Records studio and store after performing with saxophonist Charles “Packy” Axton, whose mother and uncle
Along with the rest of the MGs, Cropper served as the Stax house backing band, helping cut records for dozens of artists. “We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio,” Cropper told the Guardian in 2012. “I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule.”
Although Cropper parted ways with the label in 1970 due to issues with the front office, Booker T & the MGs continued to regroup for recording sessions and tours from the 70s through the 90s, and backed such artists as Neil Young, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty and the Band’s Levon Helm.
Cropper also found success post-Stax as the lead guitarist for John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd’s musical act the Blues Brothers, playing on their 1978 album Briefcase Full of Blues as well as four other albums. He also appeared in the 1980 feature The Blues Brothers and its 1998 sequel Blues Brothers 2000. Cropper continued to record and release music late into his life, with four solo albums released after the year 2000.
As a member of the MGs, Cropper was inducted into the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame in 1992. He is survived by his wife Angel and four children.