Legendary bassist Duck Dunn reported dead

Around 12:30 a.m. (EDT) on Sunday, May 13, the following message appeared on guitar legend Steve Cropper's Facebook page: "Today I lost my best friend, the World has lost the best guy and bass player to ever live. Duck Dunn died in his sleep Sunday morning May 13 in Tokyo Japan after finishing 2 shows at the Blue Note Night Club."

In 1965, Donald "Duck" Dunn joined Cropper, organist Booker T. Jones and drummer Al Jackson Jr. in Booker T. and the MGs, the unofficial house band at Memphis' Stax Records. (Though many of Dunn's obits mention the band's iconic 1962 instrumental hit "Green Onions," Dunn's predecessor Lewie Steinberg played that familiar walking bass riff.) Along with their own hits, the MGs backed Stax legends including Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Wilson Pickett and many more.

In later years, Cropper, Dunn, Jones and new drummer Willie Hall (Jackson was murdered in 1976) backed Levon Helm, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton and Neil Young, among many others. Dunn and Cropper also helped introduce a younger audience to R&B, backing John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd as the mainstays of The Blues Brothers' band live and on records; the duo also acted in 1980's The Blues Brothers.