RIP Steve Cropper

By
Richard C. Young
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Steve Cropper (Center) participates in the “In Performance at the White House: Memphis Soul” concert, April 9, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)

Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper has passed. The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame guitarist, a Stax Records cornerstone, with a career spent defining Memphis Soul music and churning out hits with fellow legends such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, and Booker T. and the M.G.s died in Nashville on Wednesday, aged 84. Cropper had an amazing career, which took off with the guitar track he laid down on Booker T.’s famous song, Green Onions, which is what you’ll hear when you call my office. Rest in peace, Steve.

Cropper’s family announced his passing, writing:

It is with profound sadness that we share the news of the passing of Stephen Lee Cropper, who died peacefully in Nashville today at the age of 84. Steve was a beloved musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched millions of lives around the world. As the legendary guitarist for Booker T. and the M.G.’s and the architect of the Stax Records sound, he helped create some of the most enduring songs in music history, including ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,’ ‘Soul Man,’ ‘Knock on Wood,’ and ‘In the Midnight Hour.’ A Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, Grammy Award winner, and Songwriters Hall of Fame honoree, Steve’s influence on American music is immeasurable.

While we mourn the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we find comfort knowing that Steve will live forever through his music. Every note he played, every song he wrote, and every artist he inspired ensures that his spirit and artistry will continue to move people for generations. Steve is survived by his loving wife, Angel Cropper, his children Andrea and Cameron Cropper, Stevie, and Ashley, along with countless musicians and fans whose lives he transformed through his extraordinary gift. The family thanks everyone for their love, support, and respect for their privacy during this difficult time.

Blues Rock Review reports:

Steve Cropper, the legendary guitarist, songwriter, and producer best known for his work with Booker T. and the M.G.’s and Stax Records, has died at the age of 84.

Cropper was a foundational figure in the development of the Memphis soul sound. As a member of Booker T. and the M.G.’s, he served as both a session guitarist and a key songwriter at Stax Records, contributing to classic recordings from Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Eddie Floyd, Wilson Pickett, and many others. His sharp rhythmic feel and economical guitar lines became an essential part of the label’s identity and influenced generations of blues, soul, and rock musicians.

Cropper co-wrote several iconic songs during his time at Stax and built a reputation as one of the most respected musicians of his era. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 as a member of Booker T. and the M.G.’s, a reflection of his lasting impact on American music.

Throughout his career, Cropper received nine Grammy nominations and won two. His final album, Friendlytown, released in 2024, was nominated for “Best Contemporary Blues Album,” adding to his long list of accolades near the end of his life.

Beyond his work at Stax, Cropper became widely known to mainstream audiences through his role in The Blues Brothers band. His appearances in the film and onstage brought his playing to a new generation and cemented his status as a cultural figure outside traditional soul and blues circles.

Billboard.com writes of Cropper’s Blues Brothers participation:

Cropper experienced a renaissance in 1979 when The Blues Brothers emerged. He got a phone call from John Belushi, who was half of the fictional blues duo Jake and Elwood Blues, with his “brother,” Dan Aykroyd, and recorded with the pair and made a suggestion that was golden. “What they wanted to do probably would have made it anyway, I don’t know, was basically all slow, kind of medium-tempo blues songs. Nothing wrong with blues songs, but there was nothing in there commercial to dance to,” Cropper recalled in an interview for the Musicians Hall of Fame & Museum in 2019.

“So, at the end of the rehearsal one day I said, ‘John, why don’t you do something you can dance to?’ He said, ‘Like what?’ I said, ‘Like Sam & Dave,’” he continued. I looked at [keyboardist] Paul Shaffer and said, ‘Remember “Soul Man”?’ and they started going crazy and dancing. So, when they get through with it… John turns around to me and says ‘Steve, I love that song, but it’s too high for me,’ and I just dropped it down.” The remake reached No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979 and introduced the classic to a new generation.

The Guardian’s Adrian Horton expands on Cropper’s days with Booker T. and the MGs:

Cropper played, and sometimes produced and engineered, on the MG tracks Soul-Limbo and Time is Tight, and such huge R&B hits as Redding’s (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay and Mr Pitiful; on Pickett’s In the Midnight Hour and 634-5789; on Floyd’s Knock On Wood and Raise Your Hand; and Don Covay’s See Saw and Sookie Sookie.

In 1996, the British music magazine Mojo declared Cropper the second-best guitarist of all time, behind only Jimi Hendrix.

Raised in Memphis and a guitarist since the age of 14, Cropper began working at the Stax Records store and studio at the age of 20, in 1961, after playing with saxophonist Charles “Packy” Axton, whose mother and uncle, Estelle Axton and Jim Stewart, launched the fledgling label out of a storefront record shop and adjoining movie house. An afternoon of noodling around in the studio with three fellow musicians – Booker T Jones, Lewie Steinberg and Al Jackson Jr – yielded Green Onions, the track that put Stax on the map. The song reached No 1 on the R&B charts and No 3 on the pop side.

Along with the rest of the MGs, Cropper served as the Stax house backing band, helping cut records for dozens of artists. “We would literally spend 15 hours a day in the studio,” Cropper told the Guardian in 2012. “I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a pretty busy schedule.”

Although Cropper parted ways with the label in 1970 due to issues with the front office, Booker T & the MGs continued to regroup for recording sessions and tours from the 70s through the 90s, and backed such artists as Neil Young, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty and the Band’s Levon Helm.

Words of praise have poured forth on social media. Read the posts below in Cropper’s honor:

Watch Cropper in concert below:

Listen to Cropper detail his amazing career in his own words: