🔗 Share this article Legendary guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of the soul group Booker T & the MGs, has died at the age of 84 Steve Cropper served as a key member of the house band of the pioneering Memphis label Stax Records. Esteemed musician Steve Cropper, the acclaimed guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has left us at the age of 84. The artist, who played on and helped pen the classic song Sittin' On the Dock of the Bay and Wilson Pickett's In the Midnight Hour, died this past Wednesday in Nashville. Widely regarded among the greatest backing bands in soul music, the group Booker T & the MGs was the house band of the influential Memphis label Stax/Volt and is primarily known for their classic 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late 1970s and featured on their popular rendition of Soul Man. "Steve was a deeply admired guitarist, composer, and producer whose profound talent inspired millions of lives around the world," his family said in a message. "While we mourn the loss of a loved one and companion, we are consoled knowing that Steve will be remembered through his music," they continued. A specific cause was not released at this time. A colleague, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist had been working on fresh material. "He's such a good human," Gore commented. "We were blessed to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, pictured on the right, with peers Sheryl Crow and Eddie Floyd. A Storied Musical Path Voted the runner-up for guitarist of all time by a UK publication in 1996, Cropper started his career at the Stax label in 1961 at the age of 20. A year later, the MGs were founded, featuring keyboardist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was succeeded by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964. The band was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. "I've always seen myself as a rhythm guitarist," Cropper said in a past interview. "I get off on the fact that I can play something consistently, while other guitar players don't want to even know about that. They refuse to play the same riff twice." In addition to being a guitarist, Cropper was a productive songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he collaborated on Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood. According to his official biography, he was "a part of nearly all record put out by Stax from 1961 through year end 1970". "We would truly spend marathon sessions in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had 17 or 18 artists on the roster, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."