Legendary Guitarist Steve Cropper Has Died

Steve Cropper, the legendary guitarist who was a session musician with Stax Data within the ’60s, has died. He was 84.

The Missouri-born guitarist performed on dozens of hit data over the a long time, together with basic songs by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave and the Blues Brothers.

Cropper was additionally a member of Booker T. & the MG’s, the Memphis-based interracial group that served as Stax’s home band.

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He was born on Oct. 21, 1941, in Dora, Missouri, and moved to Memphis together with his household when he was 9. By 14, he had his first guitar; by 20, he had scored his first hit single together with his band the Mar-Keys, “Final Night time.”

Cropper grew to become part of the Stax Data household, serving as each an A&R consultant for the label and a member of the Booker T. & the MG’s home band.

They performed on almost each recording session throughout their peak years within the ’60s, backing such artists as Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd and Wilson Pickett.

What Songs Did Steve Cropper Play On?

Along with enjoying guitar, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, cowriting basic songs like Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” Pickett’s “Within the Midnight Hour” and Floyd’s “Knock on Wooden.”

Hearken to Otis Redding’s ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’

Even after Cropper parted methods with Stax Data in 1970, he remained a busy and in-demand session guitarist, recording with artists equivalent to Jeff Beck, John Lennon and Rod Stewart.

In 1978, he joined the Blues Brothers band with former Stax bandmate Donald “Duck” Dunn, receiving a shout-out of “Play it, Steve!” from John Belushi in “Soul Man,” echoing the identical line utilized in Sam & Dave’s unique 1967 recording of the track that precedes Cropper’s solo.

What Are Steve Cropper’s Accomplishments?

Cropper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame in 1992 together with his Booker T. & the MGs bandmates; he was additionally inducted into the Songwriters Corridor of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Corridor of Fame.

He was nominated for seven Grammy Awards over time, most not too long ago for Greatest Up to date Blues Album for 2021’s Hearth It Up.

Watch Steve Cropper Carry out ‘Soul Man’ With the Blues Brothers

Cropper’s most up-to-date album, Friendlytown, was launched in 2024.

What Did Steve Cropper Say About His Lengthy Profession?

In 2018, Cropper advised UCR, “I look again alone profession, and I am going, ‘I wrote that? I did that?’ I attempt to bear in mind quite a lot of these instances and the artists that I labored with.

“We have been very fortunate,” he added about his time as a session guitarist with Booker T. & the MGs. “We simply occurred to be a part of the instances, and we have been fortunate to be there. It might have been anyone else, nevertheless it wasn’t; it was us. And we knew that.”