{"id":2186142,"date":"2025-12-04T00:51:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T00:51:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2186142"},"modified":"2025-12-04T00:51:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T00:51:33","slug":"steve-cropper-songwriter-and-guitarist-in-booker-t-and-the-m-g-s-dead-at-84","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/steve-cropper-songwriter-and-guitarist-in-booker-t-and-the-m-g-s-dead-at-84\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Cropper, songwriter and guitarist in Booker T and the M.G.&#8217;s, dead at 84"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2025%2F12%2Fnewspress-collage-y80mwrg6x-1764808581615.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall%261764790592\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Steve Cropper, the lean, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2017\/12\/07\/the-final-days-of-otis-redding\/\">soulful guitarist and songwriter<\/a> who helped anchor the celebrated Memphis backing band Booker T. and the M.G.\u2019s at Stax Records and co-wrote the classics \u201cGreen Onions,\u201d \u201c(Sittin\u2019 on) the Dock of the Bay\u201d and \u201cIn the Midnight Hour,\u201d has died. He was 84.<\/p>\n<p>Pat Mitchell Worley, president and CEO of the Soulsville Foundation, said Cropper\u2019s family told her that Cropper died on Wednesday in Nashville. The foundation operates the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, located at the site of the former Stax Records, where Cropper worked for years.<\/p>\n<p>A cause of death was not immediately known. Longtime associate Eddie Gore said he was with Cropper on Tuesday at a rehabilitation facility in Nashville, where Cropper had been after a recent fall. Cropper had been working on new music when Gore visited, he said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A cause of death for Cropper was not immediately known. <span class=\"credit\">AP<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s such a good human,\u201d Gore said. \u201cWe were blessed to have him, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The guitarist, songwriter and record producer was not known for flashy playing, but his spare, catchy licks and solid rhythm chops helped define Memphis soul music. At a time when it was common for white musicians to co-opt the work of Black artists and make more money from their songs, Cropper was that rare white artist willing to keep a lower profile and collaborate.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u2018Play it, Steve!\u2019<\/h2>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>Cropper\u2019s very name was immortalized in the 1967 smash \u201cSoul Man,\u201d recorded by Sam &amp; Dave. Midway, singer Sam Moore calls out \u201cPlay it, Steve!\u201d as Cropper pulls off a tight, ringing riff, a slide sound that Cropper used a Zippo lighter to create. The exchange was reenacted in the late 1970s when Cropper joined the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act \u201cThe Blues Brothers\u201d and played on their hit cover of \u201cSoul Man.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a 2020 interview with The Associated Press, Cropper discussed his career and how he mastered the art of filling gaps with an essential lick or two.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI listen to the other musicians and the singer,\u201d Cropper said. \u201cI\u2019m not listening to just me. I make sure I\u2019m sounding OK before we start the session. Once we\u2019ve presented the song, then I listen to the song and the way they interpret it. And I play around all that stuff. That\u2019s what I do. That\u2019s my style.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Cropper\u2019s very name was immortalized in the 1967 smash \u201cSoul Man,\u201d recorded by Sam &amp; Dave.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, asked once about Cropper, said simply, \u201cPerfect, man.\u201d On a YouTube instructional video, guitar virtuoso Joe Bonamassa says Cropper\u2019s moves are often copied.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf you haven\u2019t heard the name Steve Cropper, you\u2019ve heard him in song,\u201d Bonamassa said.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">He got his first guitar at 14<\/h2>\n<p>Cropper was born near Dora, Missouri, but moved with his family to Memphis when he was 9 and got his first mail-order guitar at age 14, according to his website, playitsteve.com. Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed and Chet Atkins were among his early influences.<\/p>\n<p>Cropper was a Stax artist before the label was even called Stax, which Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton had founded as Satellite Records in 1957. In the early 1960s, Satellite signed up Cropper and his instrumental band the Royals Spades. The band soon changed its name to the Mar-Keys and had a hit with \u201cLast Night.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Satellite soon was later renamed Stax, where some of the Mar-Keys became the label\u2019s horn section while Cropper and other Mar-Keys formed Booker T. and the M.G.\u2019s. Featuring Cropper, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2019\/11\/14\/booker-t-jones-says-obama-preferred-green-onions-over-hail-to-the-chief\/\">keyboard player Booker T. Jones<\/a>, bassist Donald \u201cDuck\u201d Dunn and drummer Al Jackson, they were known for their hit instrumentals \u201cGreen Onions,\u201d \u201cHang \u2018Em High\u201d and \u201cTime Is Tight,\u201d and backed Otis Redding, Sam &amp; Dave and others.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Cropper got his first mail-order guitar at just 14 years old. <span class=\"credit\">RICK MACKLER-GLOBE PHOTOS, INC.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The racially integrated band, a rarity in its day, was so admired that even non-Stax artists recorded with them, notably Wilson Pickett. Jones, who is the only surviving member of the band, and Jackson are Black. Dunn and Cropper are white.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you walked in the door at Stax, there was absolutely no color,\u201d Cropper said in the AP interview. \u201cWe were all there for the same reason \u2014 to get a hit record.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Inspired by gospel song<\/h2>\n<p>In the mid-1960s, Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler brought Pickett to work with the Stax musicians. During a 2015 gathering with the National Music Publishers Association, Cropper acknowledged he had never heard of Pickett before working with him. He found some gospel recordings by Pickett, was taken by the line \u201cI\u2019ll see my Jesus in the midnight hour\u201d and with a slight change helped write a secular standard.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe man up there has been forgiving me for this ever since!\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Cropper was inducted into the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/11\/16\/entertainment\/styxs-dennis-deyoung-slams-shameful-rock-amp-roll-hall-of-fame\/\">Rock and Roll Hall of Fame<\/a> in 1992 as a member of Booker T. and the M.G.\u2019s. That year, Cropper, Dunn and Jones played in an all-star tribute at Madison Square Garden to Bob Dylan. Al Jackson died in 1975, Dunn in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Rolling Stone magazine ranked Cropper 39th on its 100 Greatest Guitarists list, calling him \u201cthe secret ingredient in some of the greatest rock and soul songs.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Cropper was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 as a member of Booker T. and the M.G.\u2019s. <span class=\"credit\">Everett Collection<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Cropper was especially close to Redding. In an interview on his website, Cropper recalled collaborating on \u201c(Sittin\u2019 on) the Dock of the Bay,\u201d completed shortly before Redding\u2019s death in a December 1967 plane crash and a No. 1 hit in 1968.<\/p>\n<p>The brooding, folkish ballad was a bittersweet reflection on his triumphant appearance a few months earlier at the Monterey Pop Festival. Cropper would remember adding the final touches on the recording while still grieving for Redding.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe had been looking for the crossover song,\u201d he said. \u201cThis song, we knew we had it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cropper was in the 1980 movie \u201cThe Blues Brothers\u201d and its follow-up, \u201cBlues Brothers 2000,\u201d portraying \u201cThe Colonel\u201d in the Blues Brothers band. In real life, he toured with them.<\/p>\n<p>He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005, and two years later received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement.<\/p>\n<p>Cropper continued recording into his later years, including 2024\u2019s \u201cFriendlytown,\u201d which was nominated for a Grammy. Earlier this year, Cropper received the Tennessee Governor\u2019s Arts Award, the state\u2019s highest honor in the arts.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Steve Cropper, the lean, soulful guitarist and songwriter who helped anchor the celebrated Memphis backing band Booker T. and the M.G.\u2019s at Stax Records and co-wrote the classics \u201cGreen Onions,\u201d \u201c(Sittin\u2019 on) the Dock of the Bay\u201d and \u201cIn the Midnight Hour,\u201d has died. He was 84. Pat Mitchell Worley, president and CEO of the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2186143,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[22062,25601,21741,22149,349444,37798],"class_list":["post-2186142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-celebrity-deaths","tag-deaths","tag-entertainment","tag-musicians","tag-obits","tag-us-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Steve-Cropper-songwriter-and-guitarist-in-Booker-T-and-the.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186142","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2186142"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2186144,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2186142\/revisions\/2186144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2186143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2186142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2186142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2186142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}