Steve Cropper, who co-wrote classic songs, including “(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay” and “In the Midnight Hour,” during his years playing guitar at the legendary Stax Records in Memphis, has died.

The Stax Music Academy in Memphis is marking its 25th anniversary with Black History Month-themed concerts on March 28.

Jim Stewart, the white Tennessee farm boy and fiddle player who co-founded the influential Stax Records with his sister in a Black, inner-city Memphis neighborhood and helped build the soulful “Memphis sound,” has died at age 92.

A performance by master keyboardist Booker T.

“Lean on Me,” a paean to friendship, was performed at the inaugurations of both Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Lean on Me” are among Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. “Bill Withers is the closest thing black people have to a Bruce Springsteen.”His death caused a torrent of appreciation on social media, including from former Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett, who said Withers' music has been a cherished part of her life. "Bill Withers’ songs are among the most treasured and profound in the American songbook — universal in the way they touch people all over the world, transcending genre and generation. And Bill seemed to understand, intrinsically and instinctively, how to do that,” Sting said in “Still Bill,” a 2010 documentary of Withers.