Donald 'duck' Dunn,,, R.I.P.

Stax bassist Donald 'Duck' Dunn dies

Updated May 15, 2012 08:49:19

Photo: Dunn played on soul classics Respect and In the Midnight Hour. (Wikimedia)

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Grammy-winning American bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn, who helped shape the blues and soul music scenes in the 1960s and 1970s, has died in Tokyo. He was 70.

A former member of legendary band Booker T and the MG's, Dunn died in his sleep in a hotel room in the Japanese capital after performing two shows at Blue Note Tokyo, according to a Facebook entry of friend and fellow band member Steve Cropper.

A house bass player at the Stax label in Memphis, Dunn's fingers worked the frets on a number of classics, including Otis Redding's Respect and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour.

As well as playing sessions with names like Neil Young, Eric Clapton and Jerry Lee Lewis, Dunn earned himself a little Hollywood glitter when he appeared as himself in The Blues Brothers starring comedians John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd.

"We had a band powerful enough to turn goat [censored] into gasoline!"