Steve Cropper, songwriter and guitarist in Booker T and the M.G.’s, dead at 84

Longtime guitarist, songwriter, and producer Steve Cropper has passed away at the age of 84. He was a cornerstone of Memphis’ Stax Records, backing the legendary Booker T. & the M.G.’s and co‑writing timeless tracks such as “Green Onions,” “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay,” and “In the Midnight Hour.”

Pat Mitchell Worley, the president and CEO of the Soulsville Foundation, said Cropper’s relatives informed her that the musician died in Nashville on Wednesday. The foundation runs the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, situated on the original Stax site where Cropper spent many years.

No official cause of death has yet been released. Eddie Gore, a close associate, recounted that he was with Cropper at a rehabilitation center in Nashville on Tuesday after Cropper had suffered a recent fall. During Gore’s visit, Cropper was reportedly working on new material.

“He’s such a good human,” Gore reflected. “We were blessed to have him, for sure.”

Although not flashy, Cropper’s economical melodies and steady rhythm laid the groundwork for much of Memphis soul. In an era when white musicians often profited off Black songwriters, he stood out as a rare white artist who chose to stay low‑profile and collaborate genuinely.

‘Play it, Steve!’

The name Cropper became famous early on when Sam & Dave’s 1967 hit “Soul Man” featured Sam Moore calling out, “Play it, Steve!” as Cropper delivered a crisp, ringing riff. A few decades later, Cropper joined The Blues Brothers, a comedy duo starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, and played the same riff on their cover of “Soul Man.”

In a 2020 Associated Press interview, Cropper talked about how he’d learned to fill gaps with the essential lick or two. “I listen to the other musicians and the singer,” he explained. “I’m not listening to just me. I make sure I’m sounding OK before we start the session. Once we’ve presented the song, then I listen to the song and the way they interpret it. And I play around all that stuff. That’s what I do. That’s my style.”

Keith Richards once asked about Cropper and simply replied, “Perfect, man.” Guitarist Joe Bonamassa has noted that Cropper’s style is frequently copied, saying, “If you haven’t heard the name Steve Cropper, you’ve heard him in song.”

He got his first guitar at 14

Cropper was born near Dora, Missouri, and moved to Memphis with his family when he was nine. According to his site, playitsteve.com, he purchased his first mail‑order guitar at fourteen, drawing early inspiration from Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed, and Chet Atkins.

Cropper became part of Stax before the label ever had that name, while it was still called Satellite Records, founded by Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton in 1957. In the early 1960s, Satellite signed him and his band, the Royals Spades, which later became the Mar‑Keys after stardom with “Last Night.”

When Satellite was renamed Stax, several Mar‑Keys joined the label’s horn section, and Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Booker T. Jones, and Al Jackson formed Booker T. & the M.G.’s. The group released classic instrumentals like “Green Onions,” “Hang ‘Em High,” and “Time Is Tight,” and backed iconic acts such as Otis Redding and Sam & Dave.

The band’s racial integration was unusual for its time, yet they became highly respected—so much so that artists outside Stax, like Wilson Pickett, collaborated with them. Booker T. Jones and Al Jackson were Black, while Dunn and Cropper were white.

“When you walked in the door at Stax, there was absolutely no color,” Cropper explained in the AP interview. “We were all there for the same reason — to get a hit record.”

Inspired by gospel song

In the mid‑1960s, Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler persuaded Pickett to work with Stax musicians. During a 2015 National Music Publishers Association event, Cropper admitted he had never met Pickett before their collaboration. He was struck by the gospel line “I’ll see my Jesus in the midnight hour” from one of Pickett’s recordings and, with a slight tweak, helped rewrite it into the secular hit “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay.”

“The man up there has been forgiving me for this ever since!” Cropper joked.

In 1992, Cropper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Booker T. & the M.G.’s, and that same year, he, Dunn, and Jones performed at Madison Square Garden for a Bob Dylan tribute. Al Jackson died in 1975, and Dunn passed in 2012.

Rolling Stone placed Cropper 39th on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists, describing him as “the secret ingredient in some of the greatest rock and soul songs.”

Cropper was especially close to Otis Redding. He recalled on his website that they worked together on “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay,” which was completed just before Redding’s tragic death in a 1967 plane crash, and later became a U.S. No. 1 hit in 1968.

The melancholy, folk‑styled ballad offered a bittersweet look back at Redding’s triumphant Monterey Pop Festival performance. Cropper remembered adding the final touches to the track amid a still‑present grief for his friend.

“We had been looking for the crossover song,” Cropper shared. “This song, we knew we had it.”

He appeared in the 1980 film “The Blues Brothers” and its sequel “Blues Brothers 2000,” playing “The Colonel” of the Blues Brothers band. In reality, he toured with the duo on several legs of their touring schedule.

In 2005, Cropper was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. Two years later, he received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement.

Even towards the end of his life, Cropper kept recording, including the 2024 album “Friendlytown,” which earned a Grammy nomination. Earlier that year, he was honored with Tennessee Governor’s Arts Award, the state’s highest recognition in the arts.