Steve Cropper

Steven Lee "Steve" Cropper (born October 21, 1941, Dora, Missouri, United States) is an American guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas and Johnnie Taylor. He also acted as the producer of many of these records. He was later a member of the Blues Brothers band.Rolling Stone magazine ranked him 39th on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time.Mojo ranks Cropper as the second-best guitarist ever. His nickname is "The Colonel."

Early life

When he was nine years old, Cropper moved with his family to Memphis, Tennessee. At the age of ten, he strummed his brother-in-law's Gibson guitar for the first time. Cropper received his first guitar by mail order at 14 and started playing with local musicians. His guitar heroes at the time included Lowman Pauling (of the "5" Royales), Chet Atkins, Chuck Berry, Tal Farlow, Jimmy Reed, and Billy Butler (of the Bill Doggett band).