LEGENDARY BASSIST DONALD ‘DUCK’ DUNN PASSES AWAY AT AGE 70 by: Dave Lifton 1 hour ago
Donald “Duck” Dunn, who played on hundreds of rock and soul classics as the bassist for Booker T. and the MGs, and later as a session player, passed away Sunday morning at the age of 70. Steve Cropper, the MGs guitarist, broke the news on his Facebook page at approximately 12:30AM Eastern time. “Today I lost my best friend, the World has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live,” Cropper, his lifelong friend, wrote. “Duck Dunn died in his sleep Sunday morning May 13 in Tokyo Japan after finishing 2 shows at the Blue Note Night Club.” Born in Memphis in November 24, 1941, Dunn started playing bass at the age of 16. “I tried the guitar but it had two strings too many, ” he wrote on his website. “It was just too complicated, man! Plus, I grew up with Steve Cropper. There were so many good guitar players another one wasn’t needed. What was needed was a bass.” Cropper and Dunn soon formed a band, The Royal Spades, which grew into the Mar-Keys. The mother of the band’s saxophone player, Charles “Packy” Axton, was Estelle Axton, who owned the fledgling Satellite Record label. Shortly after their song ‘Last Night’ became a national hit, the label changed its name to Stax. In 1964, Cropper convinced Dunn to join Booker T. and the MGs after original bassist Lewie Steinberg departed. As the house band for Stax, they provided the music for some of the greatest southern soul music ever recorded. Virtually every song recorded by Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Albert King, Eddie Floyd, William Bell, Rufus Thomas and many others for Stax bears their distinct groove, with Dunn holding down the low end.