{"id":53149,"date":"2025-12-03T22:49:47","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T22:49:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/03\/legendary-guitarist-steve-cropper-has-died\/"},"modified":"2025-12-03T22:49:47","modified_gmt":"2025-12-03T22:49:47","slug":"legendary-guitarist-steve-cropper-has-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2025\/12\/03\/legendary-guitarist-steve-cropper-has-died\/","title":{"rendered":"Legendary Guitarist Steve Cropper Has Died"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Steve Cropper, the legendary guitarist who was a session musician with Stax Records in the ’60s, has died<\/a>. He was 84.<\/p>\n

The Missouri-born guitarist played on dozens of hit records over the decades, including classic songs by Otis Redding<\/a>, Sam & Dave and the Blues Brothers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cropper was also a member of Booker T. & the MG’s, the Memphis-based interracial\u00a0group that served as Stax’s house band.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:\u00a0<\/strong>Top 40 Funk Songs<\/a><\/p>\n

He was born on Oct. 21, 1941, in Dora, Missouri, and moved to Memphis with his family when he was 9. By 14, he had his first guitar; by 20, he had scored his first hit single with his band the Mar-Keys, “Last Night.”<\/p>\n

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booker t and the mgs<\/span><\/p>

Steve Cropper, far left, with Booker T. & the M.G.’s in 1967 (Michael Ochs Archives, Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Cropper became a part of the Stax Records family, serving as both an A&R representative for the label and a member of the Booker T. & the MG’s house band.<\/p>\n

They played on nearly every recording session during their peak years in the ’60s, backing such artists as Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd and Wilson Pickett.<\/p>\n

What Songs Did Steve Cropper Play On?<\/h3>\n

In addition to playing guitar, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, cowriting classic songs like Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay,” Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour” and Floyd’s “Knock on Wood.”<\/p>\n

Listen to Otis Redding’s ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’<\/h3>\n

Even after Cropper parted ways with\u00a0Stax Records in 1970, he remained a busy and in-demand session guitarist, recording with artists such as Jeff Beck<\/a>, John Lennon<\/a> and Rod Stewart<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 1978, he joined the Blues Brothers band with former Stax bandmate Donald “Duck” Dunn, receiving a shout-out of “Play it, Steve!<\/em>” from John Belushi<\/a>\u00a0in “Soul Man,” echoing the same line used in Sam & Dave’s original 1967 recording of the song that precedes Cropper’s solo.<\/p>\n

What Are Steve Cropper’s Accomplishments?<\/h3>\n

Cropper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame<\/a> in 1992 with his Booker T. & the MGs bandmates; he was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

He was nominated for seven Grammy Awards over the years,\u00a0most recently for Best Contemporary Blues Album\u00a0for 2021’s Fire It Up<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Watch Steve Cropper Perform ‘Soul Man’ With the Blues Brothers<\/h3>\n

Cropper’s most recent album,\u00a0Friendlytown<\/em>, was released in 2024.<\/p>\n

What Did Steve Cropper Say About His Long Career?<\/h3>\n

In 2018, Cropper told UCR, “I look back on my own career, and I go, ‘I wrote that? I did that?’ I try to remember a lot of those times and the artists that I worked with.<\/p>\n

“We were very lucky,” he added about his time as a session guitarist with Booker T. & the MGs. “We just happened to be part of the times, and we were lucky to be there. It could have been somebody else, but it wasn’t; it was us. And we knew that.”<\/p>\n

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In Memoriam: 2025 Deaths<\/h2>\n
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A look at those we’ve lost.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Gallery Credit: Ultimate Classic Rock Staff<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n