🔗 Share this article The iconic guitarist Steve Cropper, musician of Booker T and the MGs, dies at the age of 84 Steve Cropper served as a key member of the house band of the seminal Memphis label Stax Records. Steve Cropper, the renowned guitarist with Booker T and the MGs, has passed away at the age of 84. The musician, who contributed to and co-wrote 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 best backing bands in soul music, the group the MGs was the core musical unit of the historic Memphis label Stax/Volt and is primarily known for their 1962 track Green Onions. Cropper also joined the comedy music group The Blues Brothers in the late '70s and played on their successful version of Soul Man. "Steve was a deeply admired musician, songwriter, and producer whose extraordinary talent touched generations around the world," his family expressed in a release. "While we grieve the loss of a husband, father, and friend, we are consoled knowing that Steve will endure through his music," they continued. A cause of death was not released at this time. A friend, Eddie Gore, stated he was with Cropper just the day before in Nashville, where the guitarist was in the process of creating fresh material. "He's such a good human," Gore said. "We were blessed to have him, for sure." Steve Cropper, pictured on the right, with artists Eddie Floyd and Sheryl Crow. A Prolific Career Voted the number two 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 formed, featuring organist Booker T Jones, drummer Al Jackson and bassist Lewie Steinberg - who was replaced by Donald "Duck" Dunn in 1964. The band was entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. "I've always thought of myself as a rhythm player," Cropper remarked in a previous conversation. "I get off on the fact that I can play something repeatedly, while other guitar players avoid that approach. They are reluctant to repeat the same riff twice." Not only was he a guitarist, Cropper was a prolific songwriter, and besides Dock of the Bay and In the Midnight Hour, he helped write Eddie Floyd's hit Knock on Wood. According to available information, he was "a part of nearly all record issued by Stax from late 1961 through 1970". "We would truly spend long days in the studio," Cropper once recalled. "I think we had a roster of artists signed to the label, so we had a extremely demanding schedule."