Steve Cropper, Legendary Guitarist for Booker T. & the MG’s, Otis Redding and the Blues Brothers, Dies at 84

Variety ^ | 3 dec 2025 | Chris Morris

[Rummyfan]

Green Onions and Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay are a great legacy by themselves. RIP Steve Cropper.

[nuconvert]

Haven’t heard his name in a long time.
RIP

[ShadowAce]

Was he in Blues Brothers?

[plain talk]

Legend. Nothing fancy but smooth and tasty.

[Kenny Bania]

Loved his work with Murph And The Magic Tones at the Armada Room’s 2-Hour Disco Swing Party.

j/k legendary musician

[Ronaldus Magnus III]

Here is Steve Cropper with the Blues Brothers at Winterland, New Years Eve 1978.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=F9tg2tlbvnI

[Rummyfan]

A failed session backing local rockabilly artist Billy Lee Riley led to an epoch-making recording. With time on their hands, Cropper and the other players on the date – bassist Lewie Steinberg, drummer Al Jackson, Jr. and teenage multi-instrumentalist Booker T. Jones – worked up a swinging instrumental dominated by Jones’ Hammond organ.

Dubbed “Green Onions,” the number became a breakout national hit for Stax, climbing to No. 1 on the R&B charts and No. 3 on the pop side. It served as a template for a succession of similarly styled singles by the unit, dubbed Booker T. & the MG’s (in which Cropper’s high school chum Dunn supplanted Steinberg in 1964).

As with many of these classics, it came together by accident.

[Rummyfan]

Yes.... playing himself.

[bigbob]

Sorry he’s gone, but man, what a ride he had! He was part of a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline!
(per D. Duck Dunn)

[Da Coyote]

I have those Booker T and the MG vinyl albums and they still sound great. Agree that Steve was a great guitarist...and I - as a keyboard guy - loved learning from Booker T. The Hammond/Leslie combination is still a rockin’ sound.

[dfwgator]

Time Is Tight

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUEuhDHNZb8

[nickcarraway]

RIP.

[SmokingJoe]

Memories.
May he Rest in Peace.

[nickcarraway]

Booker T. & the Memphis Group were the house band of Stax. Cropper was a first class soul brother.

[Fledermaus]

...we will be taking a 10 minute break so in the meantime...don’t go changing...

[thinden]

RIP great one

[captmar-vell]

Great musician. John Lennon and Paul McCartney had even briefly talked about doing a blues album with him.

[SaxxonWoods]

“The Hammond/Leslie combination is still a rockin’ sound.”

‘Balls to the Wall’.

Played with a steel player way back when who used a Leslie tastefully, incredible.

[equaviator]

Steve Cropper played on Roy Buchanan’s “Loading Zone” album. A great version of Green Onions is on that one. Booker T also plays...RIP

[llevrok]

Here is a nice interview of Steve by the late Joe Chambers at the Musician’s Hall of Fame (Nashville).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCmr3nI1amo