"The guitarist, songwriter and record producer was not known for flashy playing, but his spare, catchy licks and solid rhythm chops helped define Memphis soul music. At a time when it was common for white musicians to co-opt the work of Black artists and make more money from their songs, Cropper was that rare white artist willing to keep a lower profile and collaborate."
"Cropper's very name was immortalized in the 1967 smash "Soul Man," recorded by Sam & Dave. Midway, singer Sam Moore calls out "Play it, Steve!" as Cropper pulls off a tight, ringing riff, a slide sound that Cropper used a Zippo lighter to create. The exchange was reenacted in the late 1970s when Cropper joined the John Belushi-Dan Aykroyd act "The Blues Brothers" and played on their hit cover of "Soul Man.""
Steve Cropper anchored Booker T. and the M.G.'s at Stax Records and co-wrote classics including "Green Onions," "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay" and "In the Midnight Hour." He died at 84 in Nashville; a cause of death was not immediately known. Cropper had been at a rehabilitation facility after a recent fall and was working on new music. His spare, catchy licks and solid rhythm chops helped define Memphis soul music. He kept a lower profile, collaborated with Black artists rather than co-opting their work, and earned the onstage shout "Play it, Steve!" for his riff on "Soul Man."
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]