Steve Cropper, legendary guitarist with Booker T. & the MG’s, the Blues Brothers and many more, has died at the age of 84. The musician’s death was confirmed to Variety by his son, Cameron.
Cropper was born in Dora, Missouri, in October 1941, and moved with his family to Memphis at the age of nine. He made his name with session band The Mar-Keys, before forming Booker T. & the M.G.’s, the house band at the city’s Stax Studios, in 1962.
The band would play on hit singles by Wilson Pickett, Bill Withers, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas, Johnnie Taylor, Albert King and more, and have a hit of their own with 1962’s Green Onions. Soul Limbo, released six years later, ingrained itself in the UK national consciousness as the long-running theme music for the BBC’s cricket coverage.
“Eric Clapton was the one who first told us about that,” Cropper told Classic Rock. “I couldn’t believe it.”
Cropper also co-wrote and produced Otis Redding’s classic (Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay, for which he was awarded the Best Rhythm and Blues Song Grammy in 1968.
“It was a crossover for Otis,” Cropper told Classic Rock. “It was medium tempo, but it wasn’t a dance song and it wasn’t a ballad either. It was somewhere in the middle. We just thought that maybe this was the one. Because Otis wasn’t on tour at that time, we had him in the studio for at least a week or more.
“The Dock Of The Bay was in the can, and after each recording session we didn’t have anything better, so we’d get that one out and listen to it again. We’d listen to it over and over, and we all kind of knew it was a hit.”
Cropper left Stax in 1970 and would go on to work with Tower of Power, Rod Stewart, John Prine, Big Star, Chicago, José Feliciano, The Jeff Beck Group, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and many more, and joined up with comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as a member of the Blues Brothers Band.
“I was mixing, and I tell the girls not to disturb me unless it is a friend calling me to go to lunch,” Cropper told us. “When Belushi called, they figured it was important enough to put through, but I didn’t believe it was him. He’d be saying, ‘I want you in the band,’ and I’d say, ‘You’re not him!’ I pretty much hung up on him.”
Booker T. & the M.G.’s were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. Four years later, Cropper was named “the greatest living guitar player” by Mojo magazine. He also released a string of solo albums, the most recent being 2024’s Friendlytown, which featured cameos from ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons and Queen’s Brian May.
“If there’s anybody I would’ve liked to produce that I never got around to, it’s Tina Turner,” Cropper told Classic Rock. “Twenty-five years ago might’ve been a good time to do it, but it’s too late now. It’s never too late! I think it is! [laughs] People ask when I’m going to retire, and I say: ‘When they can’t wheel me up to the microphone any more.'”
