Steve Cropper, musician known for 'In the Midnight Hour' and Stax guitarist, dies at 84—what was the cause of death?

Steve Cropper, the trim, expressive guitarist and songwriter who was a core member of Booker T. and the M.G.’s at Stax Records and co-author of enduring hits like “Green Onions", “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay", and “In the Midnight Hour”, passed away at 84, his son Cameron confirmed the development to Variety. The cause of death has not yet been disclosed, according to AP.

Pat Mitchell Worley, president and CEO of the Soulsville Foundation, stated Cropper’s family informed her that he died on Wednesday in Nashville. The foundation runs the Stax Museum of American Soul Music in Memphis, situated on the former Stax Records site where Cropper spent many years working.

Eddie Gore, a longtime colleague, said he saw Cropper on Tuesday at a Nashville rehabilitation facility where he was recovering from a recent fall. Gore said Cropper had been working on new music during the visit. “He's such a good human. We were blessed to have him, for sure," AP quoted Gore as saying.

Who was Steve Cropper?

According to his website, playitsteve.com, Cropper was born near Dora, Missouri, later relocating with his family to Memphis at age 9 and receiving his first mail-order guitar when he was 14. His early musical inspirations included Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed and Chet Atkins.

Cropper became associated with Stax before the company even adopted that name; founders Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton had originally launched it as Satellite Records in 1957. In the early 1960s, Satellite signed Cropper and his instrumental group, the Royal Spades. The band soon renamed itself the Mar-Keys and scored a hit with “Last Night".

Satellite eventually became Stax, where several members of the Mar-Keys formed the horn section, while Cropper and others created Booker T. and the M.G.’s. With a lineup of Cropper, keyboardist Booker T. Jones, bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn and drummer Al Jackson, the group became known for instrumental hits such as "Green Onions," "Hang 'Em High" and “Time Is Tight”, and for supporting artists including Otis Redding and Sam & Dave.

The group, which was racially integrated at a time when that was uncommon, earned admiration well beyond Stax, even attracting outside artists like Wilson Pickett. Jones, the sole surviving member, and Jackson were Black, while Dunn and Cropper were white.

In an interview with the AP, Cropper said, “When you walked in the door at Stax, there was absolutely no color. We were all there for the same reason, to get a hit record.” He entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992 with Booker T. and the M.G.’s. That same year, he, Dunn and Jones participated in an all-star Bob Dylan tribute at Madison Square Garden. Jackson had died in 1975, and Dunn in 2012.

Rolling Stone placed Cropper at No. 39 on its list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists, describing him as “the secret ingredient in some of the greatest rock and soul songs.” In the mid-1960s, Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler brought Wilson Pickett to collaborate with the Stax musicians. Cropper also appeared in the 1980 film "The Blues Brothers" and its sequel, "Blues Brothers 2000," playing “The Colonel” in the Blues Brothers band, a group he toured with in real life.

He was welcomed into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 and received a Grammy Award for lifetime achievement two years later.

Even in his later life, Cropper kept recording, including the 2024 album “Friendlytown,” which earned a Grammy nomination. Earlier this year, he was honored with the Tennessee Governor’s Arts Award, the state’s top artistic recognition.