Steve Cropper, legendary Stax guitarist and Blues Brothers band member, dies at 84

Steve Cropper, the celebrated guitarist behind Booker T. & The MG’s, a driving force at Stax Records, and a longtime member of The Blues Brothers Band, has died at 84. Variety confirmed the news on Wednesday, citing a statement from Cropper’s son, Cameron.

Steve Cropper’s cause of death and place have been released. However, Cropper’s longtime associate Eddie Gore told the Associated Press that he was with the musician on Tuesday at a Nashville rehabilitation facility, where Cropper had been staying after a recent fall.

Cropper is survived by his second wife, Angel, and their two children, as well as two children from his first marriage.

A titan of Stax records

A two-time Grammy winner, Cropper was widely regarded as one of the most influential guitarists in American music history. He played on many of Stax Records’ biggest hits, working with legendary artists including Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, and Johnnie Taylor.

Often called “The Colonel,” Cropper co-wrote and played on Redding’s posthumous classic “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.” He also co-wrote Sam & Dave’s “Soul Man,” immortalized by the iconic shout, “Play it, Steve!” The phrase was later echoed by John Belushi in The Blues Brothers’ cover of the song.

Who was Steve Cropper?

Steve Cropper was born on October 21, 1941, on a farm in Dora, Missouri. Cropper received his first guitar at age 14 and joined the teenage band The Royal Spades, which would evolve into The Mar-Keys. Before he turned 20, he had already done session work for Sun Records and other labels.

The Mar-Keys scored a Top 5 pop and R&B hit in 1961 with “Last Night.” Although Cropper played organ on that track, the group’s success brought him deeper into the orbit of Satellite Records, soon renamed Stax Records after a legal dispute with a California label.

At Stax, Cropper became indispensable not only as a guitarist but also as an A&R executive, engineer, producer, and songwriter.

He co-wrote major hits such as Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour” and Eddie Floyd’s “Knock on Wood.” Floyd’s song was later transformed into a No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 disco smash by Amii Stewart in 1979.

The birth of “Green Onions”

In the summer of 1962, Cropper joined keyboardist Booker T. Jones, drummer Al Jackson Jr., and bassist Lewie Steinberg for what began as a Stax session and turned into history. During a jam, label owner Jim Stewart secretly rolled tape.

The riff they captured evolved into “Green Onions,” one of the most recognizable instrumental tracks of all time, cementing Booker T. & The MG’s as soul-music royalty.