Steve Cropper, the legendary guitarist best known for his work with Stax Records and the instrumental quartet Booker T. & the MG's, has died at the age of 84, his representatives announced on social media.
“It is with profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Stephen Lee Cropper, who died peacefully in Nashville today at the age of 84,” reads a statement on the guitarist's Facebook page.
“Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched millions of lives around the world. As the legendary guitarist for Booker T. & the M.G.‘s and the architect of the Stax Records sound, he helped create some of the most enduring songs in music history, including (Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay, Soul Man, Knock on Wood, and In the Midnight Hour.
“A Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Inductee, Grammy Award winner, and Songwriters Hall of Fame honoree, Steve’s influence on American music is immeasurable.
“While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music,” the statement continues. “Every note he played, every song he wrote, and every artist he inspired ensures that his spirit and artistry will continue to move people for generations.”
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As the guitarist in the Stax Records house band, Steve Cropper helped set the blueprint for R&B and soul guitar playing. Never one for flash, Cropper was all about rhythm and groove, and helped bring both to the work of, to name a few, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Wilson Pickett, and Eddie Floyd.
Cropper's playing, co-writing, and production credits read like a greatest hits of American music in the 1960s.
He was the guitarist on, and co-writer and co-producer of, Green Onions by Booker T & the MG's (the hugely successful instrumental quartet he co-founded in the early '60s); guitarist on, co-writer, and producer of Otis Redding's epochal, posthumously-released (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay; and the producer of and guitarist on the original version of Respect, a song Aretha Franklin would later turn into a core standard of popular music (her cover was ranked by Rolling Stone as the greatest song of all time.)
Born in Dora, Missouri in 1941, Cropper moved to the city where he would make his name – Memphis, Tennessee – with his family as a child.
He first picked up the guitar at the age of eight, telling Guitar World in 2024, “My first guitar is under glass now at the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. It’s only got three strings. I used to play it like a rubber band when I was eight years old. I bought it from the Sears Roebuck catalog. It was a Country Western, a big round-hole, flat-top guitar.
“I’d sit on the porch waiting for that guitar to be delivered every weekend, waiting for the truck to turn the corner. And then it finally arrived. The strings were loose and the bridge needed fixing, and they wanted a 25 cent delivery fee – 25 cents! My mom said, ‘I’ll lend you that quarter if you become a guitar player’. She’s not around to defend herself anymore, but I think I did!”
In his teens, Cropper joined a group called The Mar-Keys, which would – after a huge one-off hit in the form of Last Night, evolve into the house band of Stax Records, a fledgling local label specializing in R&B. Aside from playing on the label's release, Cropper also teamed up with three other musicians in the house band – led by keyboardist Booker T. Jones – to form Booker T. & the M.G.'s.
That band's debut single, a catchy instrumental called Green Onions, became an enormous hit – propelled by Jones' unforgettable organ riff and Cropper's air-tight rhythm work (and none-cooler solo).
Green Onions helped put Stax on the map, and the label soon became a powerhouse. Cropper's guitar and production work on the label's timeless smash hits in the 1960s – particularly his aforementioned collaborations with the late Otis Redding, and his ultra-smooth rhythm playing on Sam & Dave's immortal Soul Man – were vivid demonstrations of his mastery of groove, and his ability to bring out the best in the extraordinary singers he worked with.
By the dawn of the '70s, Stax's star had dimmed, and Cropper left the label. He remained a go-to session guitarist for the rest of his life, however, with studio (and stage) credits with a laundry list of rock's greatest names.
Cropper also released a number of well-received albums under his own name. His most recent solo effort, 2024's Friendlytown, featured two famous admirers: Brian May and Billy Gibbons.
When asked by Guitar World that year what he thought was the key skill for any guitarist, Cropper said, “Groove. If someone’s got groove, they’re gonna last a lot longer than the person who doesn’t, whatever groove means to you. To me it means soul. And play in the box, not outside it. That’s what people like. If you play too far outside the box people aren’t gonna like it.”
Ever self-deprecating, he added with a shrug, “My playing has always sucked, but it sells, because I keep it simple, I guess.”
We'd have to disagree with that first part.
