Guitarist Steve Cropper, who left an indelible impression on Memphis soul music as an instrumentalist, producer and songwriter at Stax Information, has died, his son Cameron confirmed to Selection on Wednesday. He was 84.
Cropper was greatest identified to the general public for his distinctive, economical lead/rhythm work within the hit-making interracial instrumental combo Booker T. & the MG’s, however his taking part in additionally fired dozens of tracks – a few of which he produced or engineered — minimize at Stax Information’ studio by such soul greats as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Rufus and Carla Thomas and Eddie Floyd.
In 1996, British music month-to-month Mojo named him the second-greatest guitarist of all time, behind Jimi Hendrix. The publication stated, “Cropper places all the things he’s received, which is appreciable, on the disposal of the artist and the music: metronome-crisp timing; deadly-accurate chops; earth-moving bottom-line riffs; sharp, nasty little licks and style notes. His solos by no means outstay their welcome or depart you wanting much less.”
As a cleffer, he co-authored the MG’s smashes “Inexperienced Onions,” “Soul-Limbo” and “Time is Tight” and such mammoth R&B hits as Redding’s “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay” and “Mr. Pitiful,” Pickett’s “Within the Midnight Hour” and “634-5789,” Floyd’s “Knock On Wooden” and “Increase Your Hand” and Don Covay’s “Seesaw” and “Sookie Sookie.”
Although Cropper’s affiliation with Stax ended amid front-office conflicts in 1970, the MG’s regrouped for additional recording and touring from the ‘70s by way of the ‘90s, and backed such performers as Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Neil Younger and the Band’s Levon Helm.
Cropper’s highest-profile latter-day gig was as lead guitarist for John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd’s musical act the Blues Brothers. The musician performed on the duo’s double-platinum 1978 album “Briefcase Filled with Blues” and 4 different albums, and appeared in each John Landis’ 1980 function “The Blues Brothers” and its 1998 sequel “Blues Brothers 2000.”
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame as a member of the MG’s in 1992.
Cropper was born Oct. 21, 1941, in Dora, MO. His household moved to Memphis when he was 9. He started taking part in guitar at 14; amongst his influences as a participant, he cited Lowman Pauling of the R&B group the “5” Royales, Billy Butler of organist Invoice Doggett’s combo and Bobby “Blue” Bland’s longtime accompanist Wayne Bennett.
In 1960, Cropper shaped the white R&B unit the Royal Spades with a number of fellow college students at Messick Excessive College, together with bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn. The group was quickly joined by saxophonist Charles “Packy” Axton, whose mom and uncle, Estelle Axton and Jim Stewart, operated a fledgling document label, Satellite tv for pc Information – quickly renamed Stax – out of a storefront document store adjoining an previous film home, transformed right into a recording studio, on McLemore Avenue.
An instrumental hammered out by Cropper, Axton and different Royal Spades members was recorded by the label’s producer Chips Moman, who deemed a guitarist pointless for the date. Nevertheless, after “Final Night time,” billed to the Mar-Keys, reached No. 2 and No. 3 on the R&B and pop charts, respectively, in 1961, Cropper joined the touring version of the band. He quickly deserted the street to work at Stax’s document retailer and studio.
A failed session backing native rockabilly artist Billy Lee Riley led to an epoch-making recording. With time on their palms, Cropper and the opposite gamers on the date – bassist Lewie Steinberg, drummer Al Jackson, Jr. and teenage multi-instrumentalist Booker T. Jones – labored up a swinging instrumental dominated by Jones’ Hammond organ.
Dubbed “Inexperienced Onions,” the quantity grew to become a breakout nationwide hit for Stax, climbing to No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 3 on the pop aspect. It served as a template for a succession of equally styled singles by the unit, dubbed Booker T. & the MG’s (by which Cropper’s highschool chum Dunn supplanted Steinberg in 1964).
The act’s most important singles in their very own proper included “Hip Hug-Her” (No. 6 R&B, 1967), “Soul-Limbo” (No. 6 R&B, 1968), “Grasp ‘Em Excessive” (No. 9 pop, 1968) and “Time is Tight” (No. 7 R&B, No. 6 pop, 1969); the latter quantity was minimize for the soundtrack of “Up Tight,” a Blaxploitation remake of “The Informer.”
Whereas the MG’s issued a gradual stream of 45s and albums by way of the ‘60s, they did their most important work as Stax’s home band; after Moman exited the corporate after a falling out with Stewart in 1962, Cropper was put in because the label’s A&R director. The band backed each Stax act till Jones’ departure for California in 1969, and supported Redding, Sam & Dave, Floyd and Arthur Conley on the label’s celebrated 1967 package deal tour of Europe.
In 1969, close to the tip of his tenure at Stax, Cropper minimize a pair of albums beneath his personal title that targeted on his guitar work: “With a Little Assist From My Associates” and a collaboration with Pops Staples of the Staple Singers and bluesman Albert King, “Jammed Collectively.”
Like Moman earlier than him, Cropper exited Stax after battle with the entrance workplace: At loggerheads with new chief govt Al Bell, he was out the door by the point the final MG’s LP for the label, “Melting Pot,” was issued in 1971. He more and more devoted himself to manufacturing, working with such acts as John Prine, Jeff Beck and Ringo Starr.
Neither Cropper nor Jones was current on the 1973 album “The MG’s,” and a proposed 1975 reunion of the basic quartet lineup ran aground when Jackson was murdered in his Memphis dwelling. Nevertheless, latter-day editions of the group that includes Cropper, Jones and Dunn with drummers Willie Corridor and Steve Jordan minimize three albums in 1976-77 and 1994. Drummer Steve Potts labored in late touring editions of the group.
Cropper’s best success in later years got here as guitarist for the assorted spinoffs of Belushi and Aykroyd’s hyperactive and tongue-in-cheek but musically reverential Blues Brothers routines on “Saturday Night time Stay.” Dunn served as bassist within the backup band.
The No. 1 album “Briefcase Filled with Blues” spawned a No. 14 single: a remake of the 1967 Sam & Dave hit “Soul Man,” on which Cropper and Dunn had performed. The 1980 soundtrack album for the hit function peaked at No. 13 and shifted one million copies; the gold album accompanying the ’98 sequel rose to No. 12.
Later high-profile dates by the MG’s included work because the backup band for Bob Dylan’s 1992 “thirtieth Anniversary Live performance” at Madison Sq. Backyard; a stint supporting Neil Younger on his 1993 U.S. tour; and a home band stand on the opening of the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame’s museum opening in 1995.
Cropper’s 4 solo albums of the brand new millennium included “Devoted” (2011), a warmly acquired tribute to “5” Royales guitarist-songwriter Pauling.
He’s survived by his second spouse Angel and their two kids, and by two kids from his first marriage.
