Steven Lee Cropper, sometimes known as "The Colonel", is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is the guitarist of the Stax Records house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s, which backed artists such as Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, 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 36th on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, while he has won two Grammy Awards from his seven nominations.
Cropper performing in 2008
Steve Cropper in concert, 1990
Steve Cropper at the Hamar Music Festival, 2007
Cropper toured Australia with Guy Sebastian, playing on Sebastian's The Memphis Album tour in March 2008
Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records.
Stax Records
Hip Hug-Her, by Booker T. & the MG's (1967), showing the two different Atlantic-era Stax logos
The Stax Museum on McLemore Avenue in Memphis, founded in 2003, is a replica of the Stax studio, built on the same site where many of the historic Stax recording sessions took place. The original Stax studio was demolished in 1989.
Tennessee Historical Commission marker at the original site of Stax Records, now the site of the Stax campus.
