Steve Cropper was just 20 years old when his band, the Mar-Keys, began backing singers in the studios of Stax Records. They also scored a million-selling #1 hit with the instrumental, “Last Night” the scored a hit in ’62 as Booker T. & the MG’s with “Green Onions,” propelled by Cropper’s razor-sharp Esquire/Harvard licks. He spent the ’60s backing star vocalists while also co-writing “In the Midnight Hour,” “Knock on Wood” and “Sittin’ on the Dock of the Bay.” Cropper died December 3 at age 84. We interviewed him for the October ’24 issue. Listen to our “Remembering Steve Cropper” playlist on Spotify.
