Steve Cropper, a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.’s and producer/songwriter at Stax Records, has passed away at the age of 84. According to the Associated Press, Cropper died in Nashville. His son Cameron confirmed the news to Variety, but no cause of death has been revealed.
Born in Dora, Missouri, Cropper’s family moved to Memphis when he was nine years old. At age 14, he got his first guitar and studied the phrasings of Chuck Berry, Chet Atkins, Lowman Pauling, and Tal Farlow. He and Charlie Freeman formed the Royal Spades, a band that would later be known as the Mar-Keys, pumping out songs like “Last Night” and the great “My Sweet Baby.” After Chips Moman left Stax, Jim Stewart brought Cropper in to be the label’s A&R man. Cropper co-founded Booker T. & the M.G.’s with Booker T. Jones, Lewie Steinberg (soon replaced by Donald “Duck” Dunn), and Al Jackson Jr. The band would score a hit single with “Green Onions” in 1962. They were Stax’s version of the Wrecking Crew.
Cropper went on to play guitar on Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man,” co-write “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay” with Otis Redding, and co-write and play on Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour.” His solos were a thing of beauty. Never too flashy, but always full of steam and a God-given bottom line. There’s even a tale about the Beatles planning to travel to Memphis to record with Cropper, because they dug his nasty, muscular guitar sound so much, but Brian Epstein reportedly canceled the sessions due to “security problems.”
In 1969, Cropper released a solo album of his own, With a Little Help From My Friends, and left Stax a year later. He went to TMI Studios with Jerry Williams and Ronnie Soots, working with the likes of John Prine, Rod Stewart, the Jeff Beck Group, and John Lennon. When he moved to LA in 1975, he, Jones, Jackson, and Dunn got the M.G.’s back together, but Jackson was murdered in Memphis before the reunion could come together. By 1978, Cropper and Dunn were playing in Levon Helm’s RCO All Stars ensemble.
Cropper’s career got a second wind in 1980, thanks to his appearance in The Blues Brothers. Booker T. & the M.G.’s were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and the band appeared at Bob Dylan’s 30th Anniversary concert later that year. Mojo named Cropper the “greatest living guitar player” in 1996 and I can’t find a reason to disagree with that. Keith Richards certainly believes it. Somebody asked him once what he thought about Steve Cropper. His reply? “Perfect, man.” Amen to that.
Listen to Booker T. & the M.G.’s perform at Winterland in 1968 below.
