Guitarist, producer, and songwriter Steve Cropper, who formed the sound of Memphis soul as a member of the Stax Information home band Booker T. & the M.G.’s, has died. The Associated Press stories. Soulsville Basis president and CEO Pat Mitchell Worley advised the AP that Cropper’s household confirmed the information to her, however didn’t share a reason behind dying. He was 84.
Cropper was an authentic member of the Stax Information home band Booker T. & the M.G.’s, alongside organist Booker T. Jones, bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn, and drummer Al Jackson Jr. His guitar may be heard on recordings by Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and Carla and Rufus Thomas. Along with backing up different artists, Booker T. and the M.G.’s launched instrumental information below their very own title—one of the best identified of which is 1962’s “Inexperienced Onions.” They had been inducted into the Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame in 1992.
Cropper was born in Missouri and raised in Memphis, the place he first picked up a guitar on the age of 14. In highschool, he performed in a band referred to as the Royal Spades, who had been signed to Stax Information when it was nonetheless referred to as Satellite tv for pc Information. Altering their title to the Mar-Keys, the outfit grew to become the fledgling label’s first home band. They landed successful single in 1961 with “Final Night time.”
The next yr, Cropper was appointed as Stax’s A&R director, and have become a founding member of Booker T. and the M.G.’s. After a deliberate recording session went awry, Cropper, Jones, Jackson Jr., and bassist Lewie Steinberg reduce “Inexperienced Onions,” which might go on to hit No. 3 on the Billboard Scorching 100.
Moreover enjoying guitar on tracks by Stax Information artists, Cropper co-wrote a number of songs together with Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wooden,” and Wilson Pickett’s “Within the Midnight Hour.” He’s talked about by title in Sam & Dave’s 1967 track “Soul Man,” when Sam Moore ad-libs, “Play it, Steve!”
After releasing his debut solo album With a Little Assist from My Mates in 1969, Cropper left Stax the next yr. He then based Trans-Maximus (TMI) Studios in Memphis, happening to provide albums for John Prine and Tower of Energy and play guitar for Ringo Starr and Rod Stewart. Within the late ’70s, Cropper started to characteristic prominently in John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd’s Blues Brothers Band, resulting in appearances on 5 albums and in two motion pictures. He later reunited with the Booker T. and the M.G.’s for varied performances. Cropper’s final solo report, Friendlytown, arrived final yr.
