Steve Cropper, Guitarist Who Defined the Stax Records Sound, Dies at 84

Steve Cropper, second from right, with Booker T. & the M.G.’s in 1967. The integrated Stax Records house band helped shape the sound of Southern soul and backed artists including Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, and Wilson Pickett. 

Steve Cropper, the guitarist and songwriter whose clean, deliberate touch helped define the sound of Southern soul, died Thursday in Nashville at 84. His family confirmed the news, saying he passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones.

Cropper’s name might not ring as loud as the singers he backed, but his guitar did. As a founding member of Booker T. & the M.G.’s — the integrated house band for Stax Records — he played on and co-wrote a catalog that became the backbone of American R&B. His rhythm lines cut through songs like “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” “Soul Man” and “Knock on Wood,” records that carried the sound of Memphis across the world.

Unlike the guitar heroes of his era, Cropper’s approach wasn’t flash or volume — it was precision. He understood space. His riffs were short, economical, built to leave room for Otis Redding’s rasp, Wilson Pickett’s howl, or Sam & Dave’s shouted harmonies. “I’m not listening to just me,” he once said in an interview. “I make sure I’m sounding OK before we start the session.”

 

At Stax, Cropper’s sound helped set the label apart from Motown’s polish. The Memphis sessions were grittier — bass up front, horns pushing, drums dry and close — and Cropper was the glue between rhythm and melody. When Sam Moore yelled “Play it, Steve!” on “Soul Man,” it wasn’t ego. It was acknowledgment.

Through the 1960s and early ’70s, Cropper quietly built one of the most durable resumes in popular music. He co-wrote “In the Midnight Hour” with Pickett, co-produced “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” with Redding — finishing the song after Redding’s death — and helped shape dozens of sessions for artists including Carla Thomas, Eddie Floyd and Rufus Thomas. He rarely sought the spotlight, but he was rarely far from a hit.

His work carried into later decades through The Blues Brothers, where he and bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn brought Stax’s feel to a new generation. That exposure turned him into a cult figure — a sideman suddenly seen.

 

Cropper was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame and received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, though he often brushed off accolades with the same ease he brushed off solos.

Even in later years, his reach extended further than many fans realized. Hip-hop producers and soul revivalists sampled the grooves he helped shape; his rhythm lines became part of the DNA of American popular music. He didn’t chase influence — it found him.

“Every note he played, every song he wrote, and every artist he inspired ensures that his spirit will continue to move people for generations,” his family wrote in a statement. He is survived by his wife, Angel Cropper, his children Andrea, Cameron, Stevie and Ashley, and generations of musicians who learned that sometimes the most powerful sound is restraint.