Bass player and songwriter Donald “Duck” Dunn, a member of Booker T. and the MGs and the Blues Brothers band and a session player for Stax Records, has died in Tokyo. He was 70.
Dunn was in Tokyo for a series of shows. News of his death was posted on the Facebook site of his friend and fellow musician Steve Cropper, who was on the same tour.
Dunn was notable for his 1960s recordings with Booker T. & the M.G.’s and as a session bassist for Stax Records, which specialized in blues and gospel-infused southern soul and Memphis soul music styles. Dunn also performed on recordings with The Blues Brothers, Muddy Waters, Freddie King, Albert King, Neil Young, Jerry Lee Lewis, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Guy Sebastian, Rod Stewart, Bob Dylan, Roy Buchanan and Arthur Conley.
Donald Dunn played himself in the 1980 feature “The Blues Brothers”, where he had one of the most memorable lines, “We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline!”. He later reprised his self-depicting role in 1998′s “Blues Brothers 2000″.
